Massacre
by Mari xx
Summary: AU/OOC Set in New Moon, Bella is left to herself in Forks after the Cullens leave. She tries to pick herself up, using her friends as her stepping stones. As things in Forks calm, suddenly murder rages the small town, and people are dropping like flies...
1. Chapter One

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.**

**A/N: Read the bottom note.**

**Massacre  
Chapter One  
**

Bella awoke with a sharp gasp, sitting up on the lumpy couch. She ran her hand over her hair, wincing as her hand caught the numerous tangles.

She sighed, looking around. She noted that she was on the couch, and that the house was dark, and empty.

Her mind, without her permission, ran over the previous night and she winced at the pain. It felt like a hole had been sawed through her chest. She realized that now she would have to think about what it would be like to live without the…without_ them_.

It's not like she was alone. It was just that she'd practically ignored the people that cared about her. Thinking back about her behavior, she was almost disgusted.

She could not blame herself, though, for getting wrapped up in the vampire family. It hurt to think of them, but she knew she would have to get used to it.

Or, maybe she didn't. Should she force herself to forget, never to taste the sweet but now painful memories again, or should she remember, keep the memories strong and keep herself stronger.

Bella patted the blanket on top of her, running the fabric on her fingertips. She winced at how delicate her hands felt. She noticed that she had little scratches on her arms, probably from running and tripping in the forest.

The phone rang, the sound startling her. She picked it up tentatively.

"Bells?" She relaxed at Charlie's voice.

"Hey," Bella said lightly. Her voice was raspy, so she cleared her throat once.

"How are you feeling?"

"I'm alright,"

"Bells…they're gone."

Bella winced, "I know."

"I don't…look, I know…heartbreak is…I hope you feel better. Hey, maybe now would be a good time to go see Angela or Jacob down in La Push. You guys used to have fun together." Bella knew Charlie wasn't just talking about Jacob with his last comment.

"Yeah," Bella said, absentmindedly playing with a strand of her hair. "Maybe I'll go see them both today."

"Good." Charlie sounded pleased, "Stay safe, kiddo. There's a rumor going around of some killer in Seattle."

Bella rolled her eyes, "I'll be careful."

"That's my girl."

Bella held the phone to her ear for a while, listening to the dial tone. She shook her head, hanging it up before dialing Angela's number.

"Hello?" Angela asked, sounding breathless.

"Hey," Bella started, shifting awkwardly into a sitting position on the couch.

"Oh, hey, Bella." Something in Angela's voice was guarded.

"I was wondering if maybe we could do something today?"

"Oh," Angela said, surprised. "I'm up to my neck with this report…"

"I can help? I mean, we could help each other." Bella practically begged, trying her best not to remember how Alice had helped her with the same report. After a moment of struggling, she let herself remember, before pulling back when it got too painful.

"Uh, sure." Angela paused. "Want me to come pick you up? I mean, your truck seems like it's broken or something because Ed—" Angela broke off, but the damage was done. The many times she'd been with…_him_ in _his_ Volvo flooded Bella's mind.

"Yeah," Bella's voice broke. "Yeah, it might seem that way. My truck is fine, though."

"I'm sorry." Angela said timidly. "We can talk about it, if you want?"

Bella mulled this over, deciding that maybe that's just what she needed.

"Sure, but maybe we should wait until it's in person."

"I totally agree." Angela said. "Okay, see you in a little while."

"See you," Bella said, after she heard the dial tone. "Thank you."

**---**

Bella winced at the loud roar her truck made when she started it. She missed the quiet purr, the smoothness of their cars. It made her laugh a short, dry, laugh, before she pulled out and made her way to Angela's.

She almost got lost; an ode to how little she'd been to Angela's in her friendship. That fact made her stomach twist with guilt. Angela had always been her truest, kindest friend since the beginning, with her soft disposition and quiet words. Bella felt bad for ignoring her when _they_ took her in. Angela deserved better than that, everyone did.

When she parked in front of Angela's, she was surprised at how much she liked the house. Then she felt guilty for being so surprised.

It was a small house, but compared to… _their _mansion every house is small. It had a large window on the right side, facing the driveway. Bella remembered seeing the same sort of window in the old Phoenix Public Library, where she had spent much of her time in the past.

The house was paint a soft, calm blue, and Bella felt like it was welcoming her to the soft, calm girl inside, ready to talk about something that made her want to cringe.

She sighed, grabbed the backpack that had stayed in her truck cabin since…last night. She winced as she opened the door, the cold too familiar thanks to _them_. She hated that they'd effected her so, but loved that she could be effected this way.

When she knocked on the door, Angela answered immediately. She wiped her hands on her jeans, a very human action that she found she was not used to.

"Hey," She greeted, nodding me in. "I started the paper, but I'm stuck."

"I'll do what I can." She said, smiling. She could tell that Angela was walking on eggshells, dancing around the touchy subjects, and Bella liked that Angela cared enough to care about how she felt.

"Can I see yours?" Angela asked. "I bet it's great."

"It's alright. I had help," Bella said, handing the paper to Angela.

"Was it Edward or Alice…" Angela slapped her hand over her mouth, before moving it up to put her forehead in her palm. "I'm so stupid."

"You heard, then." Bella laughed lightly, masking the hurt. There was no need to make Angela feel worse.

"Well, you know how it is in Forks." Angela said, embarrassed. They both took a seat on the couch in front of a low table in the living room.

"Once Jessica knows everyone knows." Bella blurted out.

Angela laughed, "No, Jessica is only responsible for gossip at Forks High. Her _mother_ is responsible for the parents."

"How does she get to everyone?" Bella wondered aloud.

"Well, Forks Personal Bank is the only bank really close by." Angela shrugged. "Everyone uses it."

Bella nodded to her self silently. Angela's eyes moved back and forth over the words in the paper.

"Alice helped." Bella said quietly.

"Ah," Angela said. "It's good."

Bella nodded. "Let's finish yours. Firstly, what book did you choose to do it on?"

"And Then There Were None," Angela said. "It's one of my favorites from Agatha Christie."

"I like it too." Bella said. "Let me read what you have so far?"

"Sure," Angela passed Bella an open silver laptop carefully. The screen was bright, the document already open and written in.

Bella could feel Angela watching as she read over the paragraph or so written in the document on the screen.

"I think it's good." Bella started, "But I think you're missing that this is an opinion essay. It's not completely factual."

"Right,"

"And, if I were you, I'd add to it…why is it your favorite of her books? What separates it from the others; from any other book by any author? Her writing style, the effect this book had on her fandom…Your favorite parts, all that."

Angela took the laptop back and the padding of the keys filled the silence.

"Bella," Angela finally said, "Can we talk about…him, them, whatever?"

"I guess." Bella shrugged, internally dreading the talk, "I can't promise I'll have a response to everything, though."

"No, I didn't expect you to." Angela sighed, "It's too early."

Bella didn't ask what she meant, and once more it was silent.

"There," Angela said happily. She passed the laptop to Bella.

"I like it." Bella smiled. "I like how you connected the poem, the soldiers, and the people."

"It seems scary, doesn't it?" Angela asked. "To be somewhere like that?"

"Definitely." Bella laughed, passing the laptop back.

Angela continued typing, "I don't want you to stay here, just watching me type. You should do something…We have a Wii?"

Bella giggled. "Do you have Guitar Hero?"

Angela smirked, "Yes, and I will _so_ beat you at it!"

The two girls got up, still laughing, and started setting up the game neither of them had played for years.

Both of them, there, their fingers in sync as they pressed those brightly colored keys together…Bella realized she missed this. Being silly, acting younger than her age. She liked it a lot more than she thought she used to, or ever would.

It felt right, she decided. It was much easier than acting so responsible all the time.

As she sat down, giving Angela a separate turn, the looming talk hung over her head.

Suddenly all she wanted to do was go home and be boring and act old again. Stick to the familiarity.

But the familiarity, at least a good portion of it, was gone…Gone with _them_.

**A/N: I maintain that Bella isn't too old to like Guitar Hero. You just can't be too old.**

**Okay, so this is the beginning. I'm so excited. I hope you guys like this story, even though it's so different from anything I've ever written.**

**Please review (:**

**(Also - this story will be updated every other Wednesday. Or, if people like it a lot, every Wednesday if I can keep up.)**


	2. Chapter Two

**Disclaimer: I do not own _Twilight_.**

**A/N: Sorry. Posting got messed up, cable was down and I didn't have the chapter ready.  
**

**Massacre  
Chapter Two**

When Bella awoke the next morning, her chest filled with dread. She knew that she could easily call out of school, but she also knew that she'd have to face the hyped up, gossip-hungry high school crowd sooner or later.

She slid her legs over the side of the bed, padding her way into the bathroom after grabbing her bag of toiletries.

She turned the water on, letting the steam fog up her reflection in the mirror. After she undressed she stepped gingerly into the water, the change of temperature shocking her body.

She took her time, trying to let the water calm her heart beat, but unlike the many times before, it didn't work.

When she got into her truck she was still as wound up as before, maybe even more so.

Again, the truck's roar shocked her, but she slid the car out of the drive way all the same.

When she got to school she was ten minutes early, so she pulled out her History book and read over the chapter.

A knock on her window made her jump, and she slammed her book shut.

Jessica's smiling face stared back at her, almost foaming at the mouth for gossip.

Bella opened her door and stepped out slowly, lifting her back onto her left shoulder. "Hey, Jess."

"Hey." Jessica said eagerly. "So—did you hear?"

Bella rolled her eyes, speaking dully, "Hear what?"

"That the Cullens are gone?"

The name stung. "Well, yes. They told me they were leaving." Bella winced at the memory of_ him_ telling her.

"Oh." Jessica said shortly, "What did they say?"

"It's between me and them, sorry." Bella sighed, already getting sick of the conversation. It was doing nothing but hurting her.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." Bella checked her wrist to realize she wasn't wearing a watch. She made a mental note to get one. "Maybe we should get inside?"

"Nah, we still have time." Jessica said. "So, what's it like? I mean, does that mean you're single?"

"Yes." Bella said through clenched teeth.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Jessica said unconvincingly. "I'm sure some other boy would love to go out with you."

"No thanks,"

"Too early for dating? I understand. I mean, you _did_ get dumped by _Edward Cullen_." Jessica paused, "Wait, did he dump you or did you dump him?"

Bella's eyes stung, "He did."

"Ooh, tough break." Jessica said. "But it's not like you guys were all that serious."

Bella shook her head, trying to hold in both her tears and a dry laugh. "Hey, have you seen Angela?"

"Nope," Jessica said. "So, do you have your eye on anyone new?"

"No."

"Of course not," Angela's voice said loudly. Jessica and Bella turned their heads to see the brunette a few steps away, fast-walking her way to them.

"Angela, watch it, you might leave Ben in the dust with that fast-walk." Bella teased.

Angela rolled her eyes and pulled Bella into a hug.

The physical contact shocked her. She'd only hugged a few people besides..._them_ and she wasn't used to the warm embrace. It was pleasant, but didn't feel nearly as safe.

Bella hugged her back while she could and let go so Angela could hug Jessica. She'd never noticed; did they hug often? Had she really paid that much attention to _them_ and left the rest of her friends behind?

Bella knew she had. There were so many mannerisms she didn't know about. She would have if she spent more time with them. If she had, she wouldn't have to build the friendships now.

Her stomach twisted with guilt and she vowed to make it up to her friends; at least to Angela. She deserved it more than anyone.

"So, you guys finish that science paper?" Angela asked, waving to Ben over her shoulder.

"We had a science paper?" Jessica asked.

Bella nodded, "It's due today."

"Shoot! I didn't do it." Jessica ran her hands through her unruly curls, "Maybe I can pay some nerd to."

"Jess, you should do it yourself," Angela chastised.

"I don't have the time." Jessica huffed.

"Ask for an extension." Bella said, as if it was obvious.

Jessica shrugged, "Yeah, I'll try, I guess."

The loud clicking of heels made them all turn their heads. Lauren was walking toward them at a sluggish pace, her head down as she ruffled through her purse. She stopped when she got to them and muttered a 'Hey,' in greeting.

"Hey," They all chorused back.

Lauren's head snapped up, her eyes narrowing on Bella. "Oh, hey, Bella."

"Hey," Bella repeated.

"You know," Lauren flipped her hair to one side of her neck, "I didn't think you'd be in school."

"Lauren," Angela said. A warning.

"Oh?" Bella asked. "Well, I'm here."

"I see." Lauren said, shrugging. "I just figured, because you'd been dumped by the elusive Edward Cullen. I mean, it looked like what you two had was serious...with how you ignored everyone else but the Cullens. Must hurt." Lauren's mouth was twisted in a smirk, and Bella felt like she had to slap it off her face. The violent urge surprised her, and she clenched her teeth to both stop herself and distract her from the pain in her chest.

"Yes, well, it's lovely of you to pay so much attention," Bella said.

Lauren tipped her head, "No problem. It was quite obvious."

"I'm sure," Bella said shortly.

The bell's shrill ring sounded, and the girls all hurriedly started walking to the main building.

The door slam sounded twice as loud to Bella. It seemed as if as soon as she stepped into the hall, everyone and everything froze.

The whispers sounded shortly after, though, filling the silence with their harsh hissing. As Bella walked beside Angela, she could _feel_ every word.

"News travels just as fast," Bella said to herself, keeping her head angled to the tiled floor.

"Of course," Angela sighed. "It _is_ still Forks."

—

Bella's first class, English, was the hardest. She told herself it was because it was the first class of the day, but it might have also had something to do with the empty seat next to her. No one dared to sit there, because they knew they wouldn't fill it the way _he_ did. She briefly wondered what was better for her: the empty seat, or someone taking _his_ place, even if it was only in English class.

She paid more attention to the lesson then she needed too, but it was a distraction to all the murmurs she heard behind her.

Apparently, it had gotten so loud that Mr. Robin could hear it from his desk. He slammed his fist down on the wood, "Okay! That's enough!"

He stood up and marched in front of the now silent students. "Believe me, I'm aware you people gossip. But if you feel the need to bring it here and disrupt this class, well," He rubbed his palm across his face, "You'll have to take it somewhere else, like detention."

Bella slid down in her seat, aware that people were staring at her more openly. Her cheeks burned with the attention.

The bell rang shortly after, and Bella didn't know whether to be relieved or scared.

Someone, most likely a girl, bumped her shoulder, hissing, "Nice, you almost got us detention. Guess you're about as good at ignoring gossip as you are at keeping a guy interested."

The comment stung, but Bella pushed the hurt away and grabbed her books. She fingered the worn-down edges and started shuffling towards the door when Mr. Robin spoke.

"Stay, Bella."

Bella blushed and nodded, turning and walking to the desk.

"I'd appreciate it if you would keep your personal life, and the gossip surrounding it, out of my classroom." He said, running his red pen across a paper.

Bella opened her mouth, about to tell him that she wasn't the one spreading or partaking in the gossip, but she decided it didn't matter. Mr. Robin, like all the other students, would see, think, and believe what he wanted to.

Instead she turned and walked out of the classroom, and straight to her next class. The whispers followed her, but she told herself she'd just have to get used to it. It _was_ still Forks, after all.


	3. Chapter Three

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.**

**Massacre  
Chapter Three**

Lunch was a looming danger. It was like a free for all, talking and gossiping galore, outside of the quiet classroom and away from the strict teachers.

Bella knew this, of course, as the minute hand on the clock ticked towards the 6. As soon as the bell rang, she would have to find some escape.

She felt something hit her shoulder and flinched, before looking down. There, on the ground, was a piece of paper, folded up to the shape of a football.

She picked it up, and unfolded it as quickly as she could. She recognized Jessica's handwriting, and cringed at what it said.

_Hey, can we talk at lunch? I still want to know what happened._

Bella uncapped her pen with her teeth and wrote her reply, _Well, not knowing certainly didn't stop you from gossiping._

The paper came back sooner than she thought it would. She read the words: _Well duh. It's a story, and this is high school. I just want to know because I'm your friend._

Bella rolled her eyes. She wrote the next reply, slightly angry. _Jessica, I'd really appreciate it if you'd stop pretending you don't just stick around me for the gossip and popularity._

The bell rang before the paper could be passed back, but Bella did not miss the glare Jessica shot at her.

She was the last to leave the room, packing her things more carefully than she needed to. In the hallway, it was apparent that Jessica had spread the note, and students gave Bella a cold glare as she walked by.

One girl stopped her and snapped, "Okay, I get that you're feeling the break-up hurt, but you don't have to be a bitch."

"And I get that there's more than enough rumors going around, but that doesn't mean you have to believe them." Bella said back.

The girl just scoffed, rolled her eyes, and flounced away.

The rest of the hallway had gone silent, but when Bella started walking again, it was filled with whispers. She could hear bits and pieces, and but didn't care enough to put it together.

She passed the cafeteria without a thought, knowing that there would be no place for her except at an empty table, and she wasn't even hungry anyway.

Instead, she kept walking until she got to the old wooden door at the back part of the hall. She turned the knob and opened the door, letting the smell of the old books warm her insides.

The library had been a more important part of Forks High in the past, but as the world modernized, it got left behind.

Still, Bella loved how it was an old style library, with lanterns and stained glass windows, only without the colors.

She pulled out one of the chairs in the back, sitting. She went through her bag, looking for a book to read, but frowned when she saw she only had Jane Austen, which she'd read so much that she'd almost memorized it. And the...names, were a bit to close to _his._

She stood up, pulling the chair back to the table as quietly as she could. She started walking through the aisles of books, running her hands down the spines. She picked up a heavy, old-looking, leather-covered book and brought it toward her.

She ran her fingertips along the gold-implanted letters in the title. "Grimm's Fairy Tales." She smiled to herself. She'd read it a long time ago, and she didn't see the harm in re-enjoying the book.

She opened it, the plastic covering crinkling. She went through her backpack for the cereal bar she knew was there, and groaned when she couldn't find it. Instead, her hand came up, clenching a note tightly. It was folded into a perfect square. She unfolded it, smoothing it down with her fingers.

_You don't deserve this._

The note puzzled her. Did the person mean she wasn't enough, or that she was above all of this? Surely it was the first.

It was written in a handwriting that seemed oddly familiar, but she couldn't say whose it was.

It was elegant, and it reminded her vaguely of…_his_ handwriting. Of course, his perfect, calligraphic writing could not be compared to the clumsy scrawl, but the way the letters were curved…

She shoved the note back into her backpack, her mind reeling. The memories were coming back to fast, and it felt like she was drowning.

When the memories had run their course, her mind launched straight into the present, replaying every cruel word. Before, the words hadn't bothered Bella in the slightest, but coupled with the pain of remembrance and knowing that these students were half right…

A tap on her shoulder made Bella realize that she was still at school, and that she had curled in on herself, her head laying on top of her arms.

"Bella, are you alright?" Angela's voice cooed out.

Bella's head snapped up, "Yeah," To her dismay, her voice cracked.

"Oh, Bella," Angela sighed, sitting next to her. "It's just high school."

"I know,"

"They're just picking at what they can get."

"I know,"

"But it's not just them, is it?" Angela patted Bella's shoulder. "It's…_them_."

Bella knew the difference between them and _them_, so she nodded.

"I'm so sorry." Angela said, her lower lip quivering. "It must be hard, and everyone keeps bringing them up."

Bella nodded. "I understand that he and I were…unbalanced. That he was out of my league. But it didn't stop me, did it? I think I always knew he'd get bored."

"As if," Angela laughed a dry laugh. "Bella, if you two were unbalanced it's because you're out of his league. This just proves it. And he couldn't possibly have gotten bored. Not with you," Angela smiled. "There's always a reason, Bella."

Bella tucked her head under her arm, "I know. But sometimes they're not good reasons."

"And sometimes life isn't good." Angela shrugged. "You just keep going."

Bella's stomach growled loudly and she blushed.

"Come on, there's still some time left to get something small to eat." Angela took Bella's arm and helped her up. "Ignore everyone else."

"Is Jessica mad at me?" Bella asked, while they were walking down the hall.

"Oh, yes." Angela laughed. "But I agree with you."

Bella bit her lip as they got to the cafeteria.

"Ignore," Angela repeated.

The doors swung forward, and Bella noted that they felt wet. Then she realized it was just the sweat on her palms.

*Relax*, she told herself.

The cafeteria quieted down for a few minutes before the talking started again. This time, though, there were hisses of hushed words and coughs to disguise other more unpleasant words.

Angela and Bella stepped into the line—which wasn't very long, given that it was late in the lunch hour—and waited. The click of heels and shuffling made Bella's ears prick up, and she heard Lauren's voice as they came closer.

"So," Lauren greeted Bella with a sneer, "Are you angry today?"

"No, just a bit annoyed,"

"Oh, because I figured you were angry when you bitched out on Jessica."

"And I figure Jessica should fight her own battles."

"Look, admit it. You're angry and hurt."

"Why? To give you power? Please." Bella scoffed, moving up in the line.

Lauren rolled her eyes, "Well at least apologize to Jessica."

"Why would I need to apologize?" Bella asked. "She's the one playing a one-sided game of '20 Questions.' All she sticks around for is the information so she can spread it." Bella had turned her eyes to Jessica.

Lauren snapped her fingers to get Bella's attention, "She's been nice to you since day one."

"And she's been pretending the whole way." Bella snarled.

"Oh why don't you just go sob about your break up," Lauren hissed.

"And why don't you go and enjoy those full trays of food we see at your table." Angela blurted, blushing when she'd finished.

Lauren gasped, and grabbed Jessica's forearm before pulling the curly-haired brunette back to the table.

Bella noticed they were almost to the top of the line and grimaced. "I'm not hungry anymore."

---

The rest of the classes in the afternoon went by painfully slow. They all seemed to be leading up to the most painful for Bella: Biology.

The seat next to her was cold to her touch, though she supposed that even when _he_ was sitting there, it wasn't any warmer, temperature wise. But he brought the warmth with him…

She winced as she felt a sharp pang at her heart. She slumped down in her seat, her fingers tracing the stiff table top. She ran her hand along the edge and stopped where it was uneven. It was as if this part of the table had been sawed down. There were light imprints, also, invisible to the eye but noticeable to the touch.

She realized suddenly this part of the table was _his_ and she drew her hand away quickly.

Mr. Banner made his way inside, his eyes skimming over his classroom like usual. He lingered a bit longer on both the empty seat and Bella, before clearing his throat and beginning the lesson.

Bella could feel eyes staring at her, and she peeped through her hair. It was Mike. She almost laughed with relief. Mike was no harm.

"And, to end the term, there will be a project. You may partner, but you do not have to."

As the announcement was made, Bella was grateful that she would be able to work by herself.

She felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around. Mike stood there, his hands shoved in his pockets nervously.

"Hey, um, Bella, I was thinking, because, well, you're really awesome in Biology, and I kind of really need the grade, but I really want to work with a friend, too, and not some strange nerd. Not that you're a nerd. But, my point is," Mike took a deep breath, "I was wondering if you'd be my partner?"

Bella thought about this for a moment. It would put her in even more trouble with her peers, but then again, she shouldn't care. Mr. Banner had said that partnered projects got higher grades, and Mike really did seem eager to work.

Bella smiled and nodded, and Mike beamed. Then, he frowned.

"Uh, er, you can come sit at my table." Mike started, "I don't want you to be uncomfortable if I sit…" He finished with gesturing at _his_ seat.

This bought of consideration surprised Bella, and she smiled gratefully, "Thanks, Mike. What do you want to do the project on?"

Mike shrugged, "Something that will get an A?"

"That will be our goal, then." Bella laughed lightly, settling into the new, unfamiliar seat beside Mike. The seat was in the back of the room, and every now and then another student would turn around and stare at her. She told herself it didn't bother her.

**A/N: Small Note: You won't be getting Chapter Four on time, most likely. I apologize in advance.**


	4. Chapter Four

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.**

**A/N: From now on updates on this may be sporadic. I'm out of spirits lately…writing is hard these days. And I'm also working on my original stuff. So please be patient.**

**Massacre  
Chapter Four**

Bella laid her backpack on the kitchen table. She'd get to the homework after she ate something.

"Hey," A voice said, and Bella jumped, dropping everything she had in her hands.

"Jacob," She sighed, putting her fingers up to her neck to time her pulse. "Oh! You scared me."

"I'm just sneaky like that," He grinned. He walked over and bent to pick up everything off the floor.

"Yeah, you better pick all of that up," Bella said, giggling. Being with Jacob made her feel like a little kid again.

"Don't people usually say all the 'Aw, you don't have to, let me' crap?" Jacob put the jars and loaf of bread on the table next to Bella's backpack.

"Well, it's your fault I dropped it." Bella said, moving her backpack onto a chair. "Want a PB&J?"

"Sure, it's been a long time since I've had one." Jacob pulled out a chair and sat in it. "How are you? You seem good."

"I'm alright." Bella lied, smearing some peanut butter onto a piece of bread. "I could be better." She placed the finished sandwiches on a plate and passed one to Jacob. "How are you?"

"Well, I'm pretty good. Now." Jacob hinted, taking a huge bite out of the sandwich.

Bella avoided talking about the meaning behind his words and sat up. As she did so she noticed how Jacob towered over her, even when he was sitting.

"Did you get taller?" She asked.

Jacob stiffened. "Yeah…growth spurts."

Bella didn't try to find the meaning behind his now erect posture, but instead finished her sandwich.

"So…did you come over for a reason?"

"Kind of," Jacob said. "What, can't I just come to see an old friend?"

Bella smiled, "Hey, I'm not that old."

"You know what I mean," Jacob teased. "I know you're not that old. You could pass for sixteen."

Bella rolled her eyes. "Yeah right."

"I'm serious. Though it's only been about a day since your birthday…maybe in a year you'll look your age."

She knew Jacob was teasing. But the prospect of getting older, and not with…_him_ by her side, coupled with the mention of her disastrous birthday…it broke the good mood she had been in. She tried to grasp onto the remaining fragments of calm, but they just weren't enough.

"Bella?" Jacob waved a hand in front of her face, "You okay?"

"Yeah," She answered, her voice dead. "Just…zoned out a bit there."

"Oh." Jacob said, looking down at the table. "I get it."

She didn't say anything.

"Sorry," He mumbled, getting up. "I should learn to keep my mouth shut."

"No, Jake," She said, standing up and walking in front of him. Maybe the use of his childhood nickname would semi-heal the mood she'd dragged him into. "It's not you, it's not your fault."

"I know." Jacob scratched the back of his head. "I don't like seeing you sad. I don't like bringing things up, even if it _was_ indirectly, that make you sad. You being sad makes me sad, too."

His simple confession brought a terrified feeling to Bella. Perhaps Jacob hadn't gotten over his little crush on her over the time she hadn't seen him.

To save them both from a particularly dangerous situation, she backed away and sat back down. She told herself she hadn't seen the look of rejection come over Jacob's face. But she knew it would haunt her.

"Of course," She cleared her throat. "Um, don't worry about it."

He brought his head up in a nod in her direction. "I'll leave…you probably have homework."

She told herself to let him go. She battled the feeling to get up and tell him she was sorry. She told herself asking him to stay would only make him feel worse in the end.

His heavy footsteps echoed, along with the harsh slam of the door. A few spoons and pots hanging on the racks clattered together, filling the silence.

The phone rang but Bella didn't get up to answer it. She got up and moved sluggishly up the stairs for a nap.

Her room seemed bleak and empty. She'd already cleaned it, so all she could do was flop onto the bed. The sheets smelled distinctly like _him_ and she wondered briefly if she should change them. After a few inhales, she got up and told herself she needed to forget.

She striped the bed and shoved the sheets and blanket down into her laundry basket, which was only a quarter full. She also placed the pillow that laid on _his_ side in to be washed.

When she was finished she decided she didn't want to be in the room anymore and made her way downstairs.

She jumped when she saw Charlie at the table. He had his head bent forward, reading the newspaper he hadn't had time to read that morning. He was eating some sort of cereal and Bella felt bad for both not realizing he was home and not having dinner ready.

"Hey, Bells," He greeted, getting up from the table and placing his bowl in the sink.

When he turned around he came and gathered Bella into a hug.

"Hey Dad," She said, hugging him back awkwardly. He really must have been trying if he was willing to hug her; Charlie really wasn't one for contact besides a formal handshake.

"How was your day?" He asked.

"Um, slow." Bella shrugged, turning on the sink and washing the dishes.

"The kids at school givin' you a tough time?"

"Kind of, but I can handle it."

"That's my girl." He gave her shoulder a short, affectionate pat before leaving the room.

When she had finished washing the dishes Bella walked into the living room. Charlie was watching some game on TV; it looked like baseball.

"Are you still hungry? Sorry you had to eat cereal," She said, watching as one player hit the ball.

"Ah! Shoot! Get him out, catch the damn ball!" Charlie shouted at the TV. "Uh, not really. If you make something I'll have some."

Bella nodded to herself. "So...who's winning?"

"It's the old grudge game, y'know? The Red Soxs are playin' the Yankees." Charlie shook his head. "It's not an official game for the Series, just some sort of 'My-Team-Is-Better-Than-Yours' match between the coaches." Charlie took a drink of the soda he must have brought with him. Bella wondered why she hadn't noticed before tuning back into what her father was saying. "So far the Sox are up by two but it's only the third inning."

Bella couldn't make head or tails of his sports-talk, so she just nodded.

A while and three strike-outs for the Yankees later, Bella got up to make something small to eat. Her stomach couldn't handle much, but she knew she had to eat sometime.

She decided on some simple pasta. They could have the leftovers tomorrow.

As the water heated up she picked up the discarded newspaper that was on the table.

**SEATTLE IS RAVAGED BY MYSTERIOUS MURDERS**

Bella's eyes moved from side to side swiftly as she skimmed the story. Something about no evidence, and traces of smoke.

She folded the paper back up and placed it on the table, noticing now that the water was bubbling.

She quickly dumped the hard pasta shells into the water and stood, stirring it gently to prevent its burning.

She strained it when the pasta was ready, then stirred the sauce in. When she had finally sat down to eat, her eyes drifted back to the paper.

Simply reading the article wouldn't hurt, would it? Of course not. She picked the paper back up and read the full article as she ate her food.

Nothing was particularly horrendous; the title seemed to exaggerate the murders. It was simply stated that the bodies seemed completely whole, only small wounds on the neck and the pale blue of their skin the only clues to their misfortune.

The murderer wasn't caught yet, this worried her only slightly. She'd never had a particular care for her physical safety_. _He_'d always assured me that_, she thought bitterly. Then the thinking of _him_ made her heart twinge as if it was trying to cower back in his chest; as if it was scared of the mention of _him_ in either thoughts or words. She lay her hand over where her heart was _thump-thump_ing and flinched.

She skimmed over the portion of the article she hadn't read and folded it back up.

By the time she had finished washing her dishes and had packed up the rest of the pizza, she could hear Charlie's loud snores.

She walked into the living room to find him slumped over, laying down, and sleeping on the couch. She laughed quietly to herself and laid a thin blanket over him. She kissed his forehead and grabbed the remote from his sleep-still hand.

She breezed through channels as she sat on the floor in front of the couch, not quite tired yet. She landed on channel 53, which was showing _Pride and Prejudice. _She found herself not distracted by the romance she so loved and more distracted by her thoughts, which were taking a dangerous turn.

It had come to Bella's knowledge that the time she would miss _him _the most was probably at night. Without his embrace wrapped around her, keeping her safe but such a risk, and his cold breath on her head as he breathed deep the scent of her hair to lull her asleep, as well as the constant hum of her own special melody, she would know she would feel the difference.

The first few nights of _his _absence she had been too tired and too miserable to take note of the changes in her sleep patterns; the one she'd developed and gotten used to because of _him. _She'd just passed out as her head hit her pillow, which, by then, she had changed so that it was free of his scent. She had deemed this a good thing. One less constant reminder.

She shook her head and brought herself to the present. She still wasn't tired. Thinking of _his _absence only dampened her mood, which she was desperately trying to keep stoical.

She turned the TV off after half an hour or so of absent-minded watching. The noise had gotten to be annoying, anyway.

She moved sluggishly up the stairs and slid into her bed, shutting her eyes tightly. The bed was cold without the warmth of someone to warm it up, and the cold reminded her of _him. _She wondered briefly if she'd somehow always make connections to him. A lifetime of reminders sounded painful and she swallowed back her fear.

Finally, she feel into an uneasy sleep.

---

It wasn't long before she awoke, tears staining her cold cheeks. She was so cold.

She hurriedly jumped into the shower, turning the nozzle up until the water was boiling hot, burning her skin and turning it a raw red.

Once she was finished she got dressed and got back into bed, but she was still cold. She realized the lack of warmth was in her chest, not on her skin. She touched her skin lightly and winced at its tenderness. She turned her head into the pillow and breathed heavily.

She hadn't woken up from a nightmare, not really. In fact, the dream could be considered blissful if it belonged to anyone else.

But no, it was hers. It had been about _him, _of course. She'd gotten used to dreaming of him, but now it hurt. They had been happy; laughing, holding each other, kissing. Bella could almost _feel _how hard her heart had been pounding with her exuberance in the dream.

The happiness, of course, was shattered when she awoke. It all broken down into the little pieces that now made up her heart.

Bella didn't go back to sleep that night.

---

**A/N: REMINDER: From now on updates will be random. Working with a schedule is harder than I thought. Also: I am on twitter now. Just go to the my profile for the link or you can find me under "Mari Wright." I will give updates on stories and such.  
**


	5. Chapter Five

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.**

**Massacre  
Chapter Five**

Bella slid her hands over the leather of the steering wheel and sighed. She wasn't looking forward to the day of school, but she knew she shouldn't stay home.

She pushed her key into the slot and turned it to start her truck, but no rumbling was heard. She tried again, and again, but all she got were noises that didn't sound very promising.

"Oh, come on," She whispered in the silence of the cabin. "Don't die on me now!"

She turned the key with more vigor this time and her truck finally gave the familiar roar. Then it stopped and everything was silent again.

"Ugh," Bella groaned, "Come on," She tried once more, but nothing happened.

"Great," She said to herself. "Just perfect." She slammed her hands on the steering wheel in frustration. Taking a deep breath, she sat back. She got out of the car, backpack slung on her shoulder, and walked into the house. She used her key to open the door again before rushing to the phone.

She punched in Angela's number and waited.

_What if she's not home?_ Bella wondered to herself.

"Hello?" Angela's voice was breathless.

"Angela, thank God I caught you." Bella said, her voice full of relief. "My truck basically died on me, would you be able to give me a ride?"

"Oh, sure!" Angela said. "I'll be over soon."

Bella smiled as she hung up the phone. She decided to give Jake a call to ask him if he wouldn't mind repairing the truck.

"What?" Jacob's gruff voice answered.

"Oh, hello to you, too." Bella teased. "Tired?"

"Exhausted. And sick." Jacob's next coughing fit seemed to punctuate his statement.

"Oh, I'm sorry. How long have you been sick?"

"Eh, a week? Not sure. Either way it sucks."

"Oh. Well." There was silence.

Jacob broke the silence with another coughing fit before he asked, "So, why'd you call?"

"Oh! Right! My truck died. I was wondering if you'd be able to fix it. But you're sick...I'll take it to some shop or something." Bella shrugged.

Out of the corner of her eye she spotted Angela's black Sedan.

"I better go, Angela's here!" Bella said hurriedly. She hung up the phone and started fast walking to the front door. She caught her foot on the threshold and had to grab it to stable herself.

She looked up to see Angela shaking her head and laughing from her car. A blush crept up into her cheeks but she laughed, despite her embarrassment.

She got into the car quietly and her and Angela made small talk on the way to school. When they got their, the parking lot was half-full, and people seemed to be buzzing. Bella could only hope some new scandal, one not involving her, had captured their attention.

To her joy, Bella found that the center of the gossip was the break-up between Mike and Jessica. Jessica was sobbing dramatically, crowded around girls who were saying that she deserved better and thinking that maybe now they'd have a chance with her ex. Bella felt awful judging them like that, since they could very well be doing the same with her.

Mike, who was on the other side of the parking lot looking rather pleased with himself, waved to Bella eagerly as he caught sight of her. She turned away subtly, not wanting to draw any more negative attention. Of course, like many other things she endeavored, it had a negative effect on her life. Mike started shouting her name repeatedly, which caused most of the teenagers in the parking lot to realize she was there. They immediately glared at Bella, and when she sneaked a glance at Jessica, she was seething, as if Bella had meant for the break-up to happen. Which of course Bella hadn't. If she had, she wouldn't have been so surprised when she learned about it. But if that's what Jessica indeed thought (and no doubt she'd convince the other the same; it's not like anyone needed reason to dislike Bella, they had enough) then Bella's word would not do a thing. She would just simply have to wait it out and hope that the students either forgave or forgot her.

She continued to walk, sometimes getting shoved "accidentally" by shoulders as she passed. She chose to ignore; she couldn't do anything at all to please this crowd. Even if things weren't her fault she was still the bad person in this situation. She knew from experience that grudges could hold quite a while. A small shiver ran down her spin at the thought of the measures these people might take to make it thoroughly obvious she was unwanted there.

She could always take her mother's offer: go live in sunny Jacksonville. But from the emails, Renee and Phil still seemed to be in their honeymoon phase (she was actually starting to wonder if they'd ever be out of it) and she didn't want to be the awkward third wheel.

So she would just wait until school was over. She didn't think of her life out of Forks for a multitude of reasons. Her fears for the future, her fears for college, and the thoughts of what she could have had.

When the time came, she'd move far from Forks, bury her self in lessons, and try to make a good future for herself. _He'_d told her to try to be happy. She couldn't be truly happy without him, but she could try.

---

Bella chose to eat lunch alone in the library. The librarian wasn't particularly happy, but she let Bella stay.

Mike came in just after she'd finished and planned on grabbing a book. He immediately pulled the chair closest to her even closer and beamed at her.

"Hey," He said.

"Hey," Bella said, trying to move away subtly. She didn't want to hurt poor Mike's feelings, but him being so close made her rather uncomfortable.

"How come you don't eat with us?" Mike asked, playing with the edge of a book in front of him.

"Um, it's a bit awkward."

"Why, because of Jessica?" He said the name with an amount of disdain that sounded odd paired with his kind voice.

"And Lauren, but Lauren's always hated me," Bella admitted.

"Why let them force you to eat here?" Mike asked her. "That's what they want. For you to back down."

"I don't want any trouble that would surely come from trying to battle back."

"I guess I understand that." Mike shrugged. "I was wondering when you wanted to get started on the project?"

"We still have time," Bella said, pushing the subject away.

"Right." Mike conceded. "Well, how about instead of studying we just hang out?"

"Alone? Mike, I don't think that's a good idea."

"Why? Because they'll treat you worse? You shouldn't let them affect the choices you make."

"Actually," Bella interrupted him, "It's because of…Ed..ward." Choking out his name felt far worse than she'd ever imagined. She'd had to separate it, make it different things, lest she break down. Mike didn't deserve to see that.

"Oh."

"Yeah."

Things got kind of quiet then. Bella realized faintly she'd rejected Mike, and felt slightly guilty. Then her mind followed the path the next few days would follow: Jessica would find out, she'd blame Bella, and things would only get worse.

Bella hated herself for letting them affect her. She couldn't help it. Her natural instincts were to avoid hurt, as any human or…_person_ didn't enjoy pain. She just wanted to avoid trouble, was that so bad?

She got her things together and left, leaving Mike at the table.

When she got to her next class, English, she was lucky enough to get a seat right next to Jessica. She cringed internally and sat down. Fifteen minutes into class, she got a note.

_Hey, just wondering why you feel like stealing everything from me?_

_I don't, _Bella wrote back.

_Sure. Mike texted me and told me he asked you out. So, what did you do? Offer him a good grade or a good lay?_

Bella was appalled at the dig, and considered not responding. She decided to write one thing back and that would be it. _I didn't offer anything. I didn't want any of this._

_What, Mike's not good enough for you once you've had Cullen? You're not all that, and you're done here._

Bella couldn't write anything back because Jessica snatched the note back with a nasty grin. She held in a shudder thinking about what they might do to her now.

She left after that period. Not because of the taunting, or Jessica, or the endless notes being thrown at her (she wondered how the teachers hadn't noticed this, but guessed they wanted to avoid getting involved, just like her). It was because her thoughts were overwhelming her. She just needed time.

**---**

She got time. Lots of it.

Month after month, more time. Things died down quite a bit, until it was March.

At first the kids tried to torment Bella, but she never gave them the satisfaction. She just let them say what they wanted until they got bored.

Indeed they did get bored, eventually. It was a perpetual relief, even if they now pretended she didn't exist.

But she didn't care. She had Angela, who had been her only friend in this whole process. Charlie had been a great help as well, as much as he could.

She was also doing better with her other issues, namely Edward. She could think his name, because now it was more anger than hurt that she felt. Anger for all those broken promises. Anger for how he broke her _as well _as the promises.

But time still passed, for which she was grateful.


	6. Chapter Six

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.**

**Massacre  
Chapter Six**

School the next day dragged in a refreshingly boring way. The students may have still been buzzing about how Bella had apparently "stolen" Mike from Jessica, but it seemed that there was something brewing with Lauren and Tyler that stole their attention. Bella never thought she would ever think it, but she was actually grateful for Lauren's attention-hunting tendencies.

When she got home, Bella was fully intent on writing the draft of her English paper that would be due in a week, but she stopped when she spotted a note.

_Bells,_

_Went shopping, be back later. Do me a favor and have the game on when I get home?_

_Love,_

_Dad._

Bella smiled briefly at the image of Charlie hurriedly scratching out the note on the page and then laughed at the image of Charlie shopping.

She moved towards the living room, flipping the TV on with the remote and mindlessly going through channels. She settled on the shopping channel, letting the woman's chatter fill the silence. She pulled out a notebook and started working on the paper.

An hour or two later, the slam of the door alerted Bella that her father was home. He lumbered in carrying five to six bags on each arm, plopping them messily on the kitchen table.

Before she got up, Bella turned the TV to the baseball game that was on. Next, Bella got to work going through the bags and placing the various grocery items in their proper place.

"How was shopping?" Bella asked, a sprinkle of teasing in the question.

"Fine," Charlie said gruffly. He lingered awkwardly, his eyes darting towards the sound of the game.

"I'll get started on dinner, you go watch the game," Bella said, rolling her eyes.

Charlie gave her a thankful smiling before almost-running towards the living room.

Bella set to work on dinner, choosing to make steak and homemade French fries.

After everything was finished and Charlie and Bella had ate, she followed him towards the living room instead of going upstairs like usual. She had the urge to spend some time with Charlie.

"So, have I inspired you to like baseball?" Charlie teased, grinning.

Bella rolled her eyes, "I can't like it if I don't understand it."

Charlie then spent the next twenty minutes explaining it to her, but it wasn't anymore interesting than it had been before.

"Well, can't blame me for tryin'." Charlie shrugged. "So...how ya been?"

"I been alright," Bella looked away towards the TV, refusing to meet her fathers eyes.

"Having...having your heart broken not too fun, isn't it?" Charlie asked rhetorically. They _both_ had experience to prove that fact. "It's been what...a week? Less? More? C'mon, Bella, you can talk to me about it."

Tears welled in Bella's eyes. Not tears for what he was asking her to talk about, tears of appreciation.

"Well," She started, "I...get scared he's already forgotten me." Her voice cracked. "That I'm just a blip on the radar, a droplet in the sea...a toy he got bored of."

"I swear if he ever comes back here, I'll shoot him." Charlie growled. "He made himself out to be a real gentleman, but that's not how you treat a girl." Charlie started grumbling. "Making you think you're nothing special, who is he kidding? Bells, you're one of the most special people I know - and I'm not just saying that 'cause I'm your dad. Billy, Jake, Angela - they all agree! Look how fast everyone took to you when you got here! It's not always that easy, you know."

"I guessed that." Bella smiled, light red coloring her cheeks at her fathers compliments. "I just thought people knew not to mess with me because I'm the chief's daughter."

"Well, partially that, too." Charlie winked. "You know when you were born I took tons of pictures of you? And when you weren't around - because it wasn't summer - I used to show everyone."

Bella blushed, "Dad," She whined, "You're so embarrassing!"

"It's part of the job, darling." He laughed. "But let's be serious...I know you loved him. Hell, you might still."

Bella couldn't say anything. Admitting it meant accepting it, and she wasn't ready for that yet.

Charlie continued, "And I know it was a deep kind of love, because of the way you two looked at each other. Honestly, that boy must be crazy for letting something like that go...There's not many places you'll find it." He paused, taking a sip of his Cola. "But I have a theory. I don't think he got bored of you, I think he got scared."

Bella rolled her eyes, desperately trying to keep her tears at bay. They'd only make things worse.

"I'm serious." Charlie said. Then he sighed, "Okay, I'll stop. Can't be good for you, me rambling on about all this."

"We should do this more," Bella said, seemingly out of the blue. "Talk more, I mean."

"I'd like that."

"You mind if I work on a paper here? The noise is comforting."

"Don't mind at all."

Bella smiled to herself and let her self calm to the sound of the game, the scratch of writing on the page, and Charlie's reassuring touches on her arm.

---

When Bella woke up, she found herself on her bed, the blankets up to her chin. Her body was a bit sore from sleeping the wrong way and in her jeans. She groaned and sat up, looking at the clock beside her. 4 A.M. She flopped back into bed and tried to sleep, but she couldn't. She decided to get into her pajamas, even though she'd have to get out of them in a few hours.

She tidied up her room as well, reorganizing her CDs and books. When she ran out of tasks, she picked off one of the books she hadn't read yet and sat down on her bed.

Two hours and a finished book later, she got re-dressed, this time in clothes for school. She decided to let her hair down instead of pulling it up, and took up her time with actually piecing together an outfit. She knew no one would notice the change, that she had no one to appreciate the effort anymore, but why not do it for herself?

When she got downstairs she made breakfast for herself and Charlie, laughing as he came down the stairs grumbling. She'd never noticed, but Charlie was definitely not a morning person.

He choked down the food so fast it worried her, but she didn't say anything. With a light kiss on her forehead and wishes to have a good day at school, he was gone.

While she was waiting for Angela's car to pull up, the phone started ringing.

"Hello?" Bella asked through the receiver when she picked it up.

"Hey, Bells," Jake greeted. "I was wondering if you'd wanna come to the movies with me tomorrow?"

"Jake..." Bella trailed off, "I don't think that's such a great idea."

"Only as friends, I promise."

Bella hated herself for agreeing then, knowing that this would only fuel the fire that would eventually burn Jake's heart. She knew he'd let himself get his hopes up, like he always did. She vaguely recalled when Jake, age 4, had asked for a toy, received a maybe, gotten his hopes up, and was eventually crushed when he didn't get the toy. Though the circumstances were very different, Bella could sense the pattern and hated herself for not stopping it. She'd just have to make sure to keep things platonic at the movies and bring Jake back down to earth and reality. The thought of hurting him made her cringe and she, again, hated that he'd have to developed feelings for the only girl that would never be able to return them.

She promised herself that she wouldn't lead him on. It would only make things worse. She knew how that hurt. She cringed at the reminder of how long Edwardhad led her on and vowed that she'd never do the same to another person.

Angela's car beeped outside then, and Bella scrambled to grab her backpack. She half-ran to the car, stumbling slightly, but made it without falling.

"You okay?" Angela asked, studying Bella's face. Her expression seemed panic, worried, and she seemed to be lost in her thoughts.

"What? Oh. Yeah. Fine." Bella answered absentmindedly. Staring out of the window, she kept silent all the way back to school.

--

**A/N: Okay guys, I'm having a lot of trouble writing these days. So, I have decided to just put up a chapter whenever it's ready...which means there might be weeks when you don't get any chapters at all. I'm really sorry but I'm in a tough spot right now. It's either this or I go on a hiatus. (I'll probably be on hiatus anyway, for the whole month of November so I can focus on National Novel Writing Month.)**

**Please don't hate me. I'm trying. Follow me on twitter for story news! Link on my profile or you can just go look for MariWright on twitter!  
**


	7. Chapter Seven

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.**

**A/N: Just in case it wasn't made clear, months have passed. It is now March. At the end of chapter 5 there was a time skip of sorts. Like how Stephenie just passed the months by in New Moon? I didn't think it was clear with how I wrote chapter six. Enjoy this chapter: I had a fun time writing it. You can find me on twitter for story news and just random inputs about my life. (MariWright is my username.)  
**

**Massacre  
Chapter Seven**

The day went by quickly with very little conflict. Bella was relatively silent - speaking as little as possible and refraining herself from raising her hand in class. Angela had picked up on her behavior and did what she could to help. Though she couldn't force Bella to talk, she always touched Bella's arm when she was thinking dangerous thoughts and brought her back to the present. For this, Bella was grateful.

When she got home, Bella had gone through the motions: cook dinner, do her homework, shower, and go to bed. There were significant changes to the routine, though, like the chatter between Charlie and herself. Charlie seemed to have noticed her mood as well, but did not push it.

That night she'd had terrible dreams about how the movie could go. What if Jake made a move? What was she to do then? She shuddered continuously (even after the dreams) at Jacob's imagined hurt expression.

The next school day went the same way, except there was far more conflict. Jessica and Lauren, thinking they had caused the change, gloated and spat insults the whole day, to the point where they physically pushed Bella from her seat with Angela onto the floor. Bella had, embarrassingly, fought back, both with words and a sharp slap to Lauren's cheek after a particularly nasty comment about her family. The rest of the day had been a flurry of phone calls, talks with the principal, and finally an early dismissal.

Charlie had only admonished Bella for fighting back - Jessica and Lauren would have been more severely punished if she hadn't. He was angry that she'd lied about how school was going, and also that it had come to this. The principal had let her off with helping in the cafeteria for a week, since this had been Bella's first (and hopefully, only) offense. Lauren and Jessica would spend the week in detention.

When Bella got home (at 1:00) she'd gone right up to bed, hoping to sleep off the nightmare of a day. Instead she'd been greeted with more nightmares of the impending movie. It would be in only five short hours.

She'd eaten a light meal, then she'd taken another shower. She wasn't sure how to dress. She wanted the outfit to read that it wasn't a date. She pulled on some jeans and a purple sweater and hope Jacob didn't interpret it differently.

Seemingly minutes later there was a knock at her door and she swallowed back her fear and walked towards the door.

Jacob gave her a huge grin when she opened the door. "Hey,"

Bella tried to give him a timid smile in return, but her mouth didn't want to follow directions. She was pretty sure it was a frown. Maybe that was best; maybe it would discourage Jacob.

He reached for her arm and pulled her into a tight hug. "Ready?"

Bella, shocked from the contact and scared for what it might entail, merely nodded and motioned towards Jacobs...car...thing.

As if reading her mind, he spoke, "Nice, huh? It's a Rabbit, I practically built it myself."

He puffed out his chest with his statement, obviously proud of himself. Bella wondered if he was trying to impress her or just being his normal self. She couldn't tell anymore.

"So..." She started, speaking for the first time the whole night, "What are we seeing?"

"I don't know, whatever you want."

"So if I chose some girly, mushy, romantic flick you'd sit through it?" Bella teased.

"Um, for twenty minutes, maybe. Then I'd lie and say I was going to the bathroom and go see something else instead."

Bella laughed. Things felt so normal with Jacob. It seemed like she'd worried for nothing. She'd missed her friend. They'd been so close before she'd...ditched basically everyone. She pushed down the guilt she felt and focused on the present.

"I think there's some gorefest out. Like Rising Zombie 3 or something." Bella said, pulling at the zipper of her coat. She wouldn't be able to sit through two hours of watching two actors walk through the motions of a relationship. They'd run into a snag or two, but in the end they'd be happy. It made her jealous to think of all the uncomplicated happy endings some people got, even if they were only characters in a movie.

The Rabbit started, it's engine rumbling loudly. Louder than her truck.

"Oh!" Bella suddenly remembered. "Jake, I did tell you about my truck?"

"Yup. I took a look at it when I got here." Jacob nodded towards her truck. It was parked just a few feet away. "It's dead, Bells."

Bella put her head in her hands dramatically. "No!" She stretched out the word. "But it was so young!"

"It was actually really old," Jacob said. Bella glared at him.

"It had character!" She hissed. "And it lasted damn long for a truck it's age!"

Jacob laughed at her over-dramatics. "Ah, Bells, you're so unlike those other girls."

Bella gulped, glancing away from Jacob's too-intense stare. "Um, thanks."

Jacob shrugged and put the Rabbit in reverse before peeling out of the driveway. "So, what kind of candy are you gonna get?"

"I refuse to pay the outrageous theatre-prices for candy. I just buy a soda."

"So damn stubborn," Jacob laughed.

"Oh, you don't know the half of it." Bella giggled. "I once stayed outside on my porch in Phoenix the whole night because my mom and I had a fight. I got eaten alive by bugs, and it was muggy as hell, but I stuck it out." Bella finished proudly.

"Nice. I once stayed in the ocean down at La Push beach for nine hours just to prove to Billy I could."

"Ah, stubbornness at it's best." Bella cheered.

"Or worst," Jacob added. "So, about the gorefest. I heard it has the addition of _vampires_." He snorted. "Ooh, so scary."

Bella had gone silent, the smile had dropped off of her face, and her back had turned rigid as soon as the word was out of Jacob's mouth. *Vampires.* Her vampires. The vampire family she was supposed to be a part of before they decided she wasn't good enough. Tears brimmed at her eyes and she held them back as best she could.

"What, Bells, got a fear of vamps?" Jacob questioned, noticing her change in mood.

"Something like that," Bella managed to choke out without her voice cracking.

"We won't see that one then. They changed the vampires anyway. They're not even ugly or scary. Quil saw it and said that the girl-vamps were smokin'."

Bella had stopped listening for her own safety. She stared ahead at the road. There wasn't much traffic today. But there wasn't really much traffic in Forks anyway. Most people just walked to their jobs to save gas money.

"Bells? Bella? Hello?" Jacob repeated.

"Sorry," Bella said, her voice monotone. "I zoned out for a bit. Why don't we see something else? I heard a new comedy was out...Adam Sandler is in it."

"I hate Adam Sandler." Jacob growled. "Everyone thinks he's so funny but he's not."

Bella just stared at him. "What's wrong with you? Adam Sandler is _hilarious_."

"Well I don't think so." Jacob squinted at the road. "What about that other horror movie, the sequel to that other one?"

"Are you talking about 'The Orphan'?" Bella asked. "That's not a sequel to anything."

"No the other one...um...'The Haunting of Connecticut'. Isn't that a sequel to 'The Haunting'?"

"Ooh, no it's not. It's supposedly based off of a real haunting."

"Oh. Then what about that other one, the one that got those great reviews?"

"'Drag Me to Hell'?" Bella shrugged. "Angela and Ben saw it, they said it was really scary."

Jacob didn't bother asking who Angela and Ben were. "Wanna see that? If it gets too scary you can hide in my jacket." Jacob teased.

"Please. If it gets too scary for *you,*" Bella started, looking around the car. Finding exactly what she wanted, she plucked Jacob's old blanket from the back seat and held it up, "You can hold your blankie."

"It's a blanket for when I slept in the Rabbit!" Jacob said defensively.

"You slept in your car?" Bella questioned.

"Well, yeah. When it was finished. Haven't you ever heard of people sleeping in their new cars?"

"Never in my life." Bella said. "Well, until now."

"Eh, I'm not surprised. It kills your back."

Bella laughed. "Alright, so we're seeing 'Drag Me to Hell,' right?"

"Yup!" Jacob said. "How about a bet? Whoever leaves the theatre-"

"Or has to cuddle with their blankie," Bella added, smirking.

Jacob ignored her jab and continued, "Whoever leaves the theatre in fear has to...buy the other person three boxes of candy."

"What if we both leave?"

"Then no one gets any candy." Jacob grinned.

Bella nodded, "Alright, Jake, you got yourself a bet."

"Sweet." Jacob stopped the car in front of the small Forks theatre. "We're here."

"Oh, God," Bella laughed, stepping out of the car, "I haven't been here in ages!"

"Really? I come here all the time. They have the best popcorn."

Bella followed him inside and swept her eyes over the old-theatre-style decorations. It smelled like butter, sugar, paper, and a slight undertone of dust.

She remember coming her all the time during the summers with Charlie. Back then they'd held all day movies or TV show screenings. Sundays were always 'The Three Stooges' and her and Charlie used to buy tons of candy and laugh for hours at the silly antics on the screen.

Bella squashed down the nostalgia she felt with the memory and instead paid attention to giving the clerk the money for her ticket.

"Hey, I could've got that," Jacob whined.

Bella had secretly paid to make it seem less like a date, but she couldn't tell Jake that. So she just fed him the I-can-pay-for-myself speech so they could just go find some seats.

When she walked into the screening room, Bella found it horribly empty. It seemed like they were the only ones there.

"Oh, sweet!" Jacob yelled happily. "We can get the best seats, dead middle!"

"Yeah." Bella sounded unenthusiastic to her own ears and she felt bad. She had been counting on the distractions of people on their cell phones, babies crying, little kids blurting things out, and parents quieting them with a 'shh!' Then again, she doubted there would be many children and babies at a horror film. But still. Where were the teenagers talking and laughing loudly? Where were the disgusting couples making out in the back?...On second thought, Bella was glad she wouldn't have to see any happy couples. She'd just focus solely on the movie and everything would be fine.

**--**

An hour into the movie, Bella realized how wrong she had been.

Even with the distraction of screams and people meeting their gory ends, she was painfully aware of Jacob's blatant staring. More than once he'd breach the line between 'platonic' and 'more than friends.' It was as if he was testing his limits.

Just as a women got pulled into darkness on the screen, Jacob lifted his arm and placed it around Bella. She immediately removed it. That must have brought him back to reality, right?

Wrong. He tried again and again. Eventually she was just getting angry. Was this boy blind? Could he not tell she didn't want his affections?

"Jake," Bella finally spoke up, "Stop it."

"But I thought...Since you came with me tonight..."

"Jake. I know you might have a crush on me," Bella blushed at the words, hating that she had to do this. "But I really don't feel the same way."

"Is it because of your ex?"

"No. Well, yes. But, Jake. You're like brother. And you deserve better than someone who's already broken. You deserve a pretty girl who lives on the reservation who'll know cars and give you her undivided attention." Bella took a deep breath. "I can't, Jake, I can't. And I'm sorry that I have to hurt you."

"Nah," Jake scratched the back of his head, looking more awkward than she'd ever seen him. "I shouldn't have pushed my luck. Can we stay friends?"

"It would be selfish of me," Bella started, looking down at the frayed edges of her seat, "to keep you around and know you were hurting."

"I can't lose you as a friend, too, Bells." Jake's voice quivered and Bella's resolve wavered.

"Fine." Bella relented. "But if I sense it's getting out of hand..."

"I know, I know," Jacob waved her words off as if they were just an annoying mosquito. "Sorry I ruined this."

"It's alright...At least we set things completely straight."

"That's for sure." Jacob rubbed his eyes tiredly, looking so much unlike the immature, spontaneous, optimistic boy he usually was. "I think maybe...I should take you home."

"Yeah, maybe..." Bella shrugged. "At least you won't have to buy me candy when you eventually run out of the movie like a little girl." She tried to bring the good mood back. Maybe they could salvage their friendship.

"Ha," Jacob snorted. "Please." Jacob looked towards the screen, "Why don't we at least finish our bet?"

"You're on."

**--**

About an hour later, Bella walked into her house, her wallet lighter. She'd run out of the theatre during a particularly bloody scene. Even her stubbornness couldn't quell the faintness she had felt.

After the movie had finished, Jacob had walked out with the biggest grin she'd ever seen. She'd gotten the satisfaction of seeing the grin fall when she'd bought three boxes of Jacob's least favorite candy.

She blew her breath out in a sigh, noticing that the light from the TV wasn't radiating from the living room. It was silent besides the light sound of the curtains brushing the windows. There was a pale, square piece of paper on the counter. She walked closer to it, examining it. Just the note Charlie had left before. When she squinted she could she faint outlines of letters on the back, so she flipped it over. Charlie had reused the paper for another note, one detailing that he would be pulling a late night at the station and to enjoy her night with Jake.

Bella crumpled up the note and threw it into the clear blue recycle bin she'd convinced Charlie to get a week ago. She trudged up the stairs to the bathroom, took a quick shower, and feel into bed. When her head hit the mattress and not her pillow, she sat back up. Flipping on her bedside lamp, she looked around. Had she kicked the pillow off the bed during her nap?

Looking at the floor around her bed, she didn't find her pillow. She rifled through her closet and even went as far as to check the bathroom and then the living room. Still no pillow.

Maybe Charlie had thrown it out? Had she put it in the wash to rid it of any unwanted scents? She didn't remember doing any of that. She grabbed another another pillow and placed it under her head. It was uncomfortable, her being used to the other pillow, but she would make due.


	8. Chapter Eight

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.**

**A/N: I had this ready before but fanfiction wouldn't let me sign in. :/ I can't tell you when the next chapter will be up, sorry. I hope you guys enjoy the chapter, please review! (Don't forget - I am on twitter if you want story news!)  
**

**Massacre  
Chapter Eight**

When Bella had woke in the morning, the sun streamed through her window. She didn't remember moving the curtains.

Her neck was stiff from the new pillow, but she was delighted to see her favorite pillow sitting on the rocking chair. She must have overlooked it in her brief search the night before.

Her happiness was cut short by the coughs that ripped themselves up her throat. She covered her mouth with her elbow as her eyes watered and waited for the fit to subside before she got up from her bed. However, when she did so, she found her vision obstructed by spots and a new unsettling in her stomach. She walked through the hallway, moving towards the bathroom. The high powered florescent lights burned her eyes. She knelt before the toilet and emptied the contents of her stomach before pressing her head to the cold, tiled floor.

"Bells?" Charlie's voice boomed, intensifying the pounding in Bella's head. "Bells!" He knelt to the side of her and put a hand to her forehead.

Bella laughed, "Can you really tell my temperature from that?"

"No...it's just what everyone does when their kid is sick." Charlie chuckled.

Bella groaned. "I think I caught something. Maybe that flu that's going around."

"Just stay home and rest, Bells. I'll leave the Aspirin and a water bottle on your nightstand, okay? Go lay in bed."

"I...can't get up." Bella said embarrassingly. She'd lost the feeling in her limbs, and felt that if she got up, she would probably just fall again.

Charlie laughed and picked her up, helping her walk to her bedroom.

"I would've carried you but...eh, you're not eight anymore and I'm not as strong as I used to be." Charlie rubbed his stomach. "I'll be back later. There's chicken soup in the cupboard and crackers on the counter."

"'Kay." Bella said, listening to his retreating footsteps and the eventual slam of the front door.

She got up slowly, testing the turning in her stomach before her steps. When she finally got to her room, she noticed the bucket Charlie had left by the bed and thanked him internally.

She slid under her thin blanket, flipping her pillow over to find a cold spot. She forced her eyes closed and took deep breaths, wishing for sleep. She almost considered listening to some classical music, but surely the notes would only intensify the aching in her head.

She sighed, throwing the blanket off of her, suddenly very warm. Moments later, though, she found herself cold. She settled for letting the blanket pool at her waist.

The clock on her nightstand, next to the Aspirin and water she hadn't thought to take yet, read 8:34. Homeroom would be ending and her next class, History, would be starting. She made a mental note to call Angela and ask for the homework.

Bella sat up as much as she could and picked up the water and the bottle of Aspirin. She shook the bottle and one fell into her palm. She quickly swallowed it, following the pill with a gulp of water. The water sloshed in her stomach uncomfortably and she grimaced. She placed the cap back on the bottle and left it on the nightstand next to the Aspirin. She turned in her head towards the closet, following the patterns in the wood with her eyes until they drifted closed.

--

When she woke up, her vision was fuzzy and her throat was parched. She sat up and immediately her hand went to her head. The aching was gone but she still felt overheated.

She took a drink of water to soothe her throat and decided she could not just sit in bed all just because she was sick. She grabbed her backpack and made her way slowly down the stairs. When she got into the kitchen, the bright light streaming through the window made her flinch and screw her eyes shut.

When her eyes adjusted, she moved closer to the window. The weather was beautiful; clear skies, the sun was bright, and she could guess it was warm out, a rare occurrence for Forks. Ironically, she was stuck inside her house, sick, on a day she would have loved to be outside.

_That's how the Cullens must have felt._ She thought before she could stop herself. But then again, just because they'd all packed up and left her for dead didn't make them bad people. It made them bad friends. She could still empathize with them slightly. It must have been horrible, being locked inside on such a beautiful day. Though, the Cullen mansion had been designed to specifically fit their needs so that they wouldn't need the outside aside for hunting. Then again, with Esme's personality, she probably wished she could garden on these sort of days.

Thinking about the family was starting to make Bella feel worse, so she pushed those thoughts away.

She reached across the kitchen table and brought the newspaper closer to her. She ran her fingertips over the paper, following the lines of words she was reading without processing. She soon got bored and flipped to the other parts of the newspaper. Sometimes there was a good recipe in the Food section that she could try out. When she got to the desired page, there was a recipe for "Harry Clearwater's Famous Fish-Fry" in honor of Harry. Puzzled, Bella turned to the Obituary page.

_"...with the recent increase of death here in Forks, there is not room to include each and every unfortunate death. However, the staff will be accepting letters, poems, and special messages in honor of those passed. (Mailing information is located on the very last page.)_

_"However, we here at _Forks Daily_ were asked to include a short obituary for a beloved town member._

_"Faithful father, husband, friend, and cook (see Food - Recipes C3) Harry Clearwater was a very big part of both our town and the La Push reservation. Both are devastated by this loss. The funeral will be held on First Beach for a tribal service. Harry's family asks that only family and friends come to the funeral..."_

Bella stopped reading, her stomach in knots. Had Charlie known when he had comforted her? Why hadn't he told her? Harry had been one of Charlie's closest friends; they often went fishing together and did so well that Bella would be cooking fish for weeks. Charlie's favorite dish had been Harry's fried fish. How could Charlie have kept it all to himself?

Bella already knew why. Charlie, like her, preferred to suffer in silence, and did not like expressing his emotions. He also preferred to keep his pain to himself. Bella walked over to the phone and dialed the number for the station.

"Hello?" The secretary asked.

"Hi, it's Bella...is my dad there?"

"He got called to some sort of tip for the investigation. I'll let him know you called." The secretary hung up before another word could be said.

Bella frowned. A tip for the investigation?

She placed the phone back on it's hook and walked back over to the newspaper. She folded the page she'd been reading. She almost picked it up to read more before deciding to make some tea.

When her tea was sugared she walked in to the living room and started watching TV. Not ten minutes later, the front door opened and an unfamiliar man walked in.

Bella's heart started hammering, but then she noticed he was wearing the Forks Police uniform. Immediately her panic turned into a stoic, numb feeling to protect her from any bad news.

"Hey..." The man shuffled awkwardly. " It's Bella, right?"

"How did you get in?" Bella's arms wrapped around her middle, something she hadn't done since...that night, when Edward left her in the forest.

"Charlie gave me the key. Um...about Charlie..."

"What?" Bella asked, her voice harsh. Why wasn't this guy just spitting it out? Surely stringing it along wouldn't help anyone. "Is he okay?"

"Well yes - and no. He's really messed up...he heard about Harry this morning when he got to work, and he started blaming himself...saying that Harry might have died from that killer that's rumored to be running around these days. He went into the forest, on his own..."

Bella's eyes stung with tears and she laid her hand over them. "Oh no."

"He's not too badly hurt, he fell somewhere and sprained his ankle, but that's all."

"Oh thank God." Bella shouted with her relief. "Why couldn't you just tell me that?"

"Sorry," The man rubbed his neck with his hand, a look of embarrassment on his face.

"Well...what else?"

"Oh! Right," He pulled out Charlie's copy of the house key, "We're gonna carry Charlie in now, can you point us in the right direction?"

Bella took the key, "Sure, whatever. Bring him in."

As if that was a secret cue, three men bustled in, carrying a limp Charlie in their hands. If Bella hadn't known any better, she would have thought he was - gone. She held her breath as they maneuvered her large dad to the stairs, and laughed internally when they looked back and forth between Charlie and the stairs.

"You can put him on the couch," Bella offered, "He falls asleep there all the time anyway."

The men gave a collective sigh of relief before they carried Charlie into the living room and laid him on the couch.

She grabbed the many pillows from various chairs and beds in the house and used them to elevate the ankle Charlie had sprained. It was covered in a bulky cast, wrapped in pasty white cloth and made his ankle seem twice as big. She ran into the kitchen and wrapped an ice pack in a towel before tying it around the ankle.

"Well, I think she's got this covered." One of the men that had carried Charlie said. He was slightly pudgy but held a sort of intimidating air that Bella was sure he was useful to the Police Force.

"Yup, thanks for bringing him." Bella said, following the men out of the house before locking and bolting the door.

Walking back into the living room, Bella laid a throw blanket over Charlie's form.

"Oh, Charlie, what am I going to do with you?" She giggled.

She spotted a marker on the table and grabbed it, and before she even thought about it, she'd written a "Get Well Soon!" note along with her signature on Charlie's cast.

Bella made a mental note to call a doctor to set up an appointment to have Charlie's ankle looked over. She knew he'd complain, but it really was for the best. After all, Charlie would want to be up and running back on the 'investigation' as soon as possible.

She shut off the TV and walked upstairs. Her room was abnormally cold and she noticed that her window was open. She was sure she'd left it closed before she'd gone downstairs to rid herself of boredom. She walked over and tried to close the window, but it wouldn't budge. It was as if someone else - someone outside - was holding the window open. She backed away from it slowly, having learned quite a few lessons from her bad luck in the past. After a few moments of silence, she walked back over and slid it closed with ease.

She shrugged to herself, guessing that the old window had simply just gotten stuck with the humid air outside. Still, she couldn't shake that weird feeling in the pit of her stomach.


	9. Chapter Nine

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.**

**A/N: Oh God, this one was hell to write. I rewrote half of it and a load of the dialogue. I am happy with the end result, though.  
**

**Massacre  
Chapter Nine**

The next day, Bella rolled out of bed and grumbled in annoyance. Today she would have to go to school, face her peers, and catch up on all the work she missed. She walked downstairs to see Charlie sitting on the couch, his face the picture of anger as he glared at his ankle.

"Hey," She said. "How's your ankle?"

"Useless." Charlie grunted. "The guys at the station told me I have to get it checked out, and than I'd have to stay away from work for at least a week."

"Aw," Bella patted his shoulder, "At least you'll be able to catch up on the games you've missed?"

Charlie shook his head, "I can't believe I was so stupid."

"You weren't—" Bella started, but Charlie cut her off.

"I was. I acted on my emotions instead of my rationality and now I won't be any help to anyone for a while." He rubbed his knuckles into his eyes. "And at a time like this, too…"

"Dad, you're human." Bella said. "You act on your emotions. If everyone thought everything through before they acted, do you think the things that happen in this world would keep happening? We're emotional creatures. It's almost instinctual for us to think with our feelings."

"God," Charlie breathed, "You've grown so much...you sound like a thirty year old, not an eighteen year old."

"Thanks." Bella said sarcastically. "That's every girls dream - to seem twelve years older than they are."

"I'm not saying you seem like a thirty year old - just that you're...mature like one. Wise beyond your years." Charlie scratched his head. "Your mother and I should have let you act more like a child and less like an adult."

Bella waved her hand, swatting the comment away. "You guys raised me just fine."

Charlie shrugged. "So anyway, is Angela coming to get you for school?"

"Yup," Bella answered, "But I'm going to call and make an appointment for your ankle. It might not even be serious."

"I hope so. The least this town needs is one more officer down and out." Charlie rubbed his eyes. "What with the murders and everything."

Bella nodded. "It wasn't your fault." She didn't even need to go into specifics, Charlie would know what she was talking about.

"I know that now." Charlie said. "It only took an injury to get that through my head."

"Well we Swans are known for our stubbornness."

"Ain't that the truth." Charlie laughed. "You should get ready for school."

Bella started walking towards the stairs, but stopped and pointed to the fridge. "There's leftovers in the fridge for you, by the way."

Charlie just rolled his eyes.

--

Angela already had the material she had to make up ready when Bella slipped into the passenger seat. She also had photocopies of all the notes Bella had missed.

"Thanks," Bella said, slipping the various papers into her backpack.

"Are you feeling better?" Angela asked sweetly, shifting the car into drive and backing out of the driveway.

"Much." Bella smiled, "Charlie isn't so great though."

"I heard." Angela said, a sheepish grin on her face. "Is his leg alright?"

"Yeah, I guess he is. I'm going to set up an appointment to get his ankle looked at." Bella looked out the window, observing the greenery as it whizzed by. "So, anything interesting happen?"

"Um," Angela tilted her head. The car slowed to a stop at a sign. "Lauren bitched about you the whole day, but that's not new. The cheek you hit is still kind of pink." Angela giggled. "I'm told Jessica asked Mike out, but he rejected her, which means you might get some heat from that too. I think everyone is using you to take their frustrations out on or something."

"Great," Bella blew her breath out in a sigh, "I'm like a human stress-ball."

"At least Mike gave up." Angela reasoned. "Everyone is sort of buzzing about you and that guy from the reservation though."

"What?" Bella whipped her head around.

"Apparently, one of Jessica's friends saw you and him at the movies. Everyone thinks you're dating."

Bella's head fell into her hands. "We're not dating. We're just friends."

"Oh, okay. Why are you so...tense, then?"

"When we went to the movies, I had to reject him." Bella said.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Angela bit her lip. She maneuvered the car into the school's parking lot and pulled into her usual spot. "Today may be kind of hard, you know."

"I know." Bella sighed. She slung her backpack over her shoulder, opened the door, and stepped out to face the crowd of her peers seemingly waiting for her. "But not harder than any other day."

--

Bella slumped into the seat in the kitchen, completely tired. First, a number of kids had questioned her about Jacob, insinuating she was a slut, then her teachers had been icy towards her because she was slightly behind. Not to mention Lauren and Jessica.

Charlie had called and made his appointment while she was at school. She caught up on all her work during her free period, which had been moved to the last period of the day.

Angela had done her best to console her, but Bella had needed to stay strong. It wasn't going to get easier; teenagers could be very, very cruel, and if you were their main source of entertainment...they wasted no time in ridding themselves of their boredom.

Bella walked up the stairs to her bedroom slowly. She stopped so she could peer into the living room. Charlie was asleep, with a blanket half draped over his chest and a bag of chips on the floor. Bella rolled her eyes and let out a small laugh.

Once she was in her room, she propped herself up on her pillows and choose one of the books she had picked up from the library. She was getting sick of rereading; something about almost having the book memorized took away the point of reading it.

It was a thick novel, around five hundred pages and Bella decided she would read what she wanted to tonight and then save the rest for another day.

Hours later, after she'd read through about half of the book, Bella's stomach growled. She got up and started walking to her door, but the edge of her pants caught onto the edge of a floorboard. When Bella tried pulling her leg away, the floorboard moved. It was loose, as if someone had lifted it and placed it back.

Bella bent down and felt into the hollow space below the floorboard. When her hands came up, she had a CD and some pictures. Her insides froze and her heart doubled its beating.

The pictures were of her and Edward, the night of her birthday. The CD could only be the one he'd recorded her lullaby on.

Her hands started shaking and she was gasping for air. What would she do with this stuff? She couldn't handle the reminders. But they were precious. They were her memories, the sweet time just before the week of distance that happened just before the night when Edward left her in the forest.

She dropped the stuff on the floor and ran downstairs to the phone. Charlie was still asleep, for which she was grateful.

"Hello?" Angela answered after three rings.

"Hey, um, Angela," Bella started, her voice quivering, "Can you get here? Like right now?"

"Oh, sure. Is everything alright?"

"I'll explain when you get here."

"Alright..." Angela's voice trailed off and Bella hung up. She walked back up to her room and kept her eyes steadily away from the rectangular hole revealed by the removed floorboard.

Her curiosity, however, roared stronger, tempting her to look closer, to see if any more of her precious memories were locked away in that small space.

He'd told her it would be like he never existed. If he really meant that, why had he left these things there? Did he count on her finding them, to put her through more torture or did he figure she wouldn't notice? Had he wanted to ensure she _wouldn't_ forget, even if he had told her to?

_Did_ she want to forget?

There was three quick knocks on the door, and she walked carefully down the stairs to get to it. She didn't trust her balance right now.

Once the door was open, a soft, cold breeze flowed into the room. It smelled like lilacs. She couldn't remember, did one of the neighbors keep a garden?

All she saw was the dark of the sky outside. There wasn't anyone there. She stepped outside, shifting her head in all directions. She'd definitely heard a knock.

Bella shrugged and turned around, but she turned back when she saw headlights. It had to be Angela.

"Hey!" Angela hurried out of her car. "What's wrong?"

"Um, come on inside."

"Sure," Angela walked on to the porch, "Oh! I think you missed some mail!" She pointed to a piece of paper on the ground near the door.

"It's probably just an advertisement." Bella crouched down and grabbed the paper, before crumpling it in her hands.

"So...what's the hurry?"

"I found something...in my room. Under a floorboard." Bella admitted, leading Angela up the stairs.

Angela's eyes were wide. Bella showed her the hole in her floor, then the things that had once been buried neatly and out of sight down there.

"Pictures...oh..." Angela bit her lip. "I'm so sorry."

"And this...it has the piece he composed for me." Bella handed the disk to Angela. "What do I do?"

"Well, maybe because your subconscious sort of sensed this stuff in your room, you got more reminders? Maybe we should burn it. I heard burning an ex's stuff feels great."

"I don't mind that...just...can I keep the CD?" Bella held the disk up. "I mean...Edward may be a lying jerk, but the music is still beautiful."

"Whatever you want to do." Angela shrugged. "Want me to take care of the photos?"

"Yes, please." Bella quickly shoved them into Angela's hands. There was a moment of silence. "Now that I've told you...it doesn't seem like such a big deal...sorry for making you rush over." Bella blushed, playing with the edges of the CD case.

"Don't be." Angela said. "I understand why this was a big deal."

Bella shrugged and started following Angela down the stairs.

"Thanks." She repeated, the CD clasped tightly in her hands. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Something about the way Angela was looking at her unnerved Bella. It was like she was wary.

"Don't hesitate to call." Angela said forcefully before she disappeared into the night air.

Bella trudged up her stairs slowly, biding her time. Once she was in her room she found her eyes constantly drawn to her CD player. She'd placed the CD on her nightstand, as far away as the small table allowed.

She shut off her lamp and turned away from it in her bed. After minutes of squeezing her eyes shut and taking deep breaths, she sat up.

She was so stubborn. Now that she found it, a token of his past affection, proof that she hadn't dreamed him up and let the dream slip away, she couldn't let it sit there. No matter how much listening to the song that had lulled her to sleep in her most distressed states would hurt, she had to do it. Just once. Then she'd put the CD somewhere she wouldn't see it—maybe back under the floorboards, perhaps? Or maybe she'd take Angela's suggestion and burn it.

The CD felt cold and smooth under her fingertips and made a satisfying _click_ as it slid into the player and clipped around the ring in the middle.

With a shaking finger, she pressed play.

Unlike the many times she'd used this CD player, when the music would start with a boom because she always failed to turn the volume down, it started softly; sweetly.

The melody trickled out of the headphones and Bella found her body relaxing while her hands and face tightened. She felt the tears and didn't move from her sitting position on her bed, her shoulders slightly hunched.

So many memories triggered by this one composition. The first time she'd gone to the Cullen's home, afraid of rejection and nervous for acceptance. The meadow, where Edward would hum the song in her ear as she sat with him, marveling at the diamonds reflecting off of his skin. The many times she'd had this song hummed to her to sleep as he held her.

Thick, warm tears ran down her face and trickled onto her neck, wetting the top of her nightshirt. She tasted the salt and wrung her hands together, not moving to swipe her face or shut the music off.

She laid down until she was on her back, and raised the volume. It rang even clearer in her ears.

She must've been some kind of masochist, to be forcing herself through this torture. She didn't want to forget. To think she was purposely reminding her of these things, now, was ironic, since she had hated the constant reminders just days ago. How fast things change.

Once the music had stopped, she paused it. She couldn't remember if Edward had put more of his playing on the disk, but all she cared about was the first one.

She placed the CD player next to her, taking the headphones off. She felt exhausted, now that she had practically emptied her tear ducts and her body was relaxed.

She retreated to her dreams, where she and Edward were still painfully and happily together; laughing, kissing, holding.

How fast things change.


	10. Chapter Ten

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.**

**Massacre  
Chapter Ten**

Bella tossed and turned the whole night, but she could not sleep. She watched the bright green numbers on her alarm clock change until there were dots spotting her vision. She kept the blanket over her body, no matter how warm she got. She was simply numb; dead to what was going on inside her and hyper-aware of the outside world.

She could hear the birds outside chirping as they sat on the branches of the big tree next to her window. Had they always chirped, greeting her with the high notes of their song, or was this the first day? There was the sound of a lawn mower in the distance; who mowed their lawn at 5 A.M.? The hum of cars and heating systems reached her ears when she strained to hear it. Some rustling in the forest closest to her room. The sounds of the TV downstairs were slight and she could make out the loud announcer's voice talking about the players and statistics. Had Charlie often fell asleep, leaving the TV on the rest of the night?

Bella had always prided herself on being so observant. It was a useful tool, to not miss the slight changes in expressions that may reveal a lie or crack a mask. But she now realized she was only observant when it came to people, and even then she missed half of what was going on, either by the former distraction of Edward or the rambling of her own thoughts.

The blanket over her body shifted as she turned around to face her closet. There was a hole next to her hand in the sheet where she'd gripped it too hard while she had cried.

Sweeping her eyes about her bedroom, she realized how little her room reflected her as a person. Wasn't that what bedrooms were for? To showcase one's inner self?

Her bedroom walls were still painted purple from her childhood; it had been her favorite color until she came across the classic look of black and white. Her bookcase was worn at the corners and very small: so small in fact that most of her books resided in boxes in her closet. The furniture was mismatched; nothing really pieced together as a whole.

Maybe her room did reflect her. It was plain and haphazard, as if it had been a rush to put it together. But then again, she wasn't together. She was broken.

Realizing she would have to muddle through the day no matter the lack of sleep, Bella got up. Her feet tingled when they pressed against the floor. The sound of her footsteps seemed extra loud and she cringed.

Once she was in the safety of her bathroom, she turned to face the mirror. Her eyes had a dead look to them. Her mouth was turned down at the corners in what seemed a permanent frown. Her outside appearance actually matched her feelings.

Why was she feeling this now? The numbness. What happened to the progress she'd made? Had she accidentally tucked it away with the CD under her floorboard?

Bella shook her head, sighing loudly. She mentally took back all the times she'd thought she wanted to be numb. Sure, a life without feeling pain sounded amazing, but she didn't like not feeling. It was too safe, too bland. She didn't like who she saw in the mirror. She needed to snap out of this.

She turned the water on full blast, blazing hot. Jumping inside, clothes still on, she sprung on the balls of her feet as the water soaked through her nightshirt to her back. It stung just as she wanted it too.

She turned the water's temperature down and sat on the shower's floor, looking up at the nozzle. Her hair was damp and her face felt dry from the steam. She curled her legs to her chest and let the water beat down on her. Slowly her muscles relaxed and her head lulled to the side.

After a few deep breaths she got up and took care of washing up before she wrapped her favorite towel around herself and stepped out.

"Bells?" Charlie's voice called out, groggy and scratchy. "You okay?"

"Yeah." Bella said. "I'm fine."

Once Angela got there and Bella got in the car, Angela handed her a small pile of ash. She made sure Bella threw it out the window before she backed out of the driveway. Bella didn't question her.

The car ride to school was filled with mindless chatter and Bella delighted in the normality.

"Are you alright?" Angela broke of from her earlier sentence. "You seem...weird."

"Thanks." Bella grinned. "I think finding the stuff kind of shook me up. I'm feeling better now, though."

"That's good." Something in Angela's reply seemed off, but Bella ignored it in favor of adjusting the chain around the mirror.

"I think you should sit with us today." Angela suddenly said.

"Us as in Mike, Jessica, Lauren, and all their friends?" Bella clarified. "Um...how about no."

"Please, Bella, no one's really mad at you anymore! I mean, Lauren hates you but she's petty. I bet if you talked to Jessica you guys could patch things up, and Mike, Tyler, Ben and Eric would all welcome you back."

"Which wouldn't do anything but cause *more* drama." Bella said. "Look, fine, I'll talk to Jess and sit with you guys. But if things go badly, you owe me a lunch."

"Deal." Angela smiled brightly.

"Oh so excited for my social execution." Bella joked.

"Stop being over dramatic," Angela swatted Bella's hand away from the chain. "If you go in thinking the worst—"

"Then you don't risk disappointment and if it goes well, it's an even better surprise." Bella finished.

Angela merely rolled her eyes, smirking, before turning the radio on to the local rap station.

Bella hated rap.

--

The school's parking lot was already half full, and Bella spotted Lauren, Mike, Tyler and Jessica leaning against Tyler's van across the parking lot.

"Come on." Angela said, angling her head towards the group. "If you talk to them now it might make lunch easier."

Bella opened her mouth to speak but couldn't argue with Angela's logic.

Lauren's head snapped up as soon as she heard footsteps. A smirk made itself onto her face and she turned forward, causing the rest of the group to look over as well.

Bella ignored the heat that was manifesting itself in her cheeks and kept walking. Tyler and Mike looked happy to see her, and Jessica looked indifferent.

"Hey." Angela greeted.

Bella gave a tentative wave and what she hoped was a small, greeting smile.

"Well," Lauren sneered, "I guess she decided we're worth her time."

Jessica offered a small snicker. Tyler and Mike looked at each other.

The atmosphere turned extremely awkward.

"Good morning to you, too, Lauren." Bella said finally. "Anyway, how are you guys?"

Tyler slipped an arm around Bella's shoulder. He smelled like a mix of cologne and coconut shampoo. "I just got better."

Mike shoved his hands in his pockets and looked away. Meanwhile, Lauren crushed the paper she'd been holding into a compressed, ruined ball.

Bella slipped lightly out of Tyler's grasp. "Um...good?"

Tyler looked undeterred, though, and merely stepped closer. "So...if you're free..."

"Tyler." Jessica snapped. "It's all too obvious she's not interested."

Bella sent a grateful towards Jessica and she smiled back.

Tyler shook his head, his shaggy hair falling in front of his eyes. "Yeah, that's cool." He looked up at Lauren. "So...Lauren...?"

"Not happening." Lauren snapped.

Tyler shrugged. "Whatever." He gave them all a parting glance before trotting to a group of girls near the school's entrance.

Lauren scoffed, grumbling something under her breath. "I'm gonna go reprint my paper." Her cheeks turned the lightest tinge of pink as she speed-walked away.

"And then there were four." Angela said ominously.

Jessica side-glanced at Mike, and they shared a look. He left minutes later, muttering something about getting a snack.

"So..." Jessica shifted her feet. "I'm sorry about all that stuff...I was stupid and I was going through some problems and needed something to take it out on."

"I understand." Bella said. "It's okay...but don't expect me to trust you wholeheartedly."

"I know. I'm not a very trustworthy person anyway." Jessica blushed. "What with my big, gossiping mouth and all."

Bella giggled and pulled Jessica into a hug.

Angela looked on smugly, winking at Bella in a I-told-you-so way. The bell rang and the three girls turned and walked together into the school's entrance.

The halls were full of stares and whispers of the supposed-make-up between Jessica, Bella, and perhaps even Lauren. For once, Bella was able to completely block it out.

The rest of the day went by pleasantly. Jessica and Bella had a more in-depth talk about their friendship, or what was left of it really. Jessica updated Bella on everything she'd missed within the small group.

Lunch was an obstacle. Even if Lauren left halfway through and Bella ended up leaving to sit alone for the rest of it, Bella liked sitting at her old table while it lasted. It restored, even more, the sense of normality she hadn't realized she'd been craving.

Whilst sitting alone she'd read through the free newspaper that was kept in a stack in the far corner of the lunchroom. It was a bit of a downer: more deaths were happening and cops didn't have any leads. Bella had decided not to read it afterward, wanting to preserve her good mood.

By the time she got home and was settled in with her Biology homework, Bella had a deep sense of calm about her. She could only hope it would last.

--

**A/N: I hate putting bottom notes, but this ones important and I don't think anyone reads the top ones.**

**I hope you guys like this chapter, there's something I really like about it. It's a quick update, too! Don't expect many more, I start school very soon so please be patient.**

**I made a website, it's my homepage on my profile. I also made a banner for this story, link on my profile.**

**Follow me on twitter (MariWright) for story news/update news. I always post updates about if a chapters in the final editing stage and the links when I update.**

**Thanks so much for the support on this story, I'm really glad you guys like it.**

**(Sorry for the extra long rambly A/N. =P)**


	11. Chapter Eleven

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.**

**A/N: Really had fun with this one! The humans are so fun to play with, I really do love making them a bigger (but still relatively small) part of this story. This one practically wrote itself! =D Sorry about the wait but school has started and I'm super busy. I had the chapter done, but I had no time to update.**

**Massacre  
Chapter Eleven**

The plastic was digging into her hands as Bella carried Jessica's newest proof of the dent in her mother's credit account.

"Do you think that's enough for the spring?" Jessica asked, tilting her head and pushing up her hair with her hands.

"Um," Bella adjusted her hold on the bags. "Yeah, I think so."

"I think you bought enough for our entire class." Angela piped up through the boxes she was holding.

"Please," Jessica scoffed, "If I was buying for our entire class, there would be less fabric and more of it."

"I concur," Bella sighed. Once they got to Angela's car, she put the bags in the trunk and ran her fingers over the grooves in her hand.

"Well," Jessica rubbed her hands together. "Who's next?"

"What?" Bella lifted her head so fast she hit the back of it on the trunk. "Ow."

Jessica and Angela burst into giggles.

"Quick," Jessica whispered loudly to Angela, "While she's confused, grab her and run to the nearest store!"

Angela laughed harder, bending down and holding her stomach.

"Glad you two find my pain so amusing," Bella pouted, rubbing the sore spot at the back of her head, "And that wouldn't work."

"But you're still going shopping. I'll buy." Jessica waved one of her credit cards. "Ooh, and you should totally get a new hair cut!"

"Why?" Bella asked.

"Be-cause." Jessica whined. "C'mon, Bella, you have to pamper yourself! I promise you that you'll feel ten times more confident with a new look."

"You think I don't feel confident?" Bella asked. After a moment she added, "Don't answer that."

Jessica smiled, laughing, "Come on. Please? It's like...ritual for me to buy things for my friends. You're the only one I haven't!"

"I'm just not comfortable with it." Bella protested, but continued when she say Jessica's face fall. "Fine. A few things and a haircut. That's it."

Jessica squealed in delight but was interrupted by a ringing sound coming from her pocket.

"Hello?" Jessica blurted into the phone. "Um...I'm just...Yeah...Well...You knew that! Stop interrupting me!...Fine, fine, fine!...What? That isn't fair!" Jessica pulled the phone away from her ear with a huff, tears gathering in her eyes. "I have to go." She shoved the credit card in Bella's hand. "I want to see a new haircut tomorrow at school, 'kay?"

"Okay." Bella said. "Are you alright?"

"Just...stuff." Jessica brushed her unruly curls back with her hand. "I'll see you guys tomorrow."

She got into her car, slamming the door harshly. The tires squealed as she hit the gas and zoomed away.

"Um." Bella said, flipping the credit card over in her hands.

"She's been having some problems." Angela said, as if that explained everything.

"I see..."

"Promise not to tell?" Angela said, suddenly, grabbing Bella's hand. She towed her into a store and sat Bella down next to her in a dressing room in the back of the building.

"Promise...?" Bella was thoroughly confused now.

"Okay. So her mom and her dad are separating, because her mom is pregnant and supposedly it's like impossible it's her husband's kid, because he'd been on a business trip during the approximate time of conception." Angela took a deep breath. "But, anyway, Tyler told Lauren that he and Jessica had sex so now Lauren is completely shunning her. Mike hates her because they were together, and he thinks she cheated on him."

"Oh." Bella said awkwardly. "Who knew you could be such a gossip?" She teased.

Angela rolled her eyes. "I just think you should know because...she needs a few good friends right now. And I know she wasn't there for you, but you can choose to be there for her anyway."

"I feel like I'm in a _Lifetime _movie." Bella observed. "How 'bout I just act like I usually do?"

"Good." Angela nodded. "By the way, her mom did totally cheat. And Jessica didn't sleep with Tyler, he's lying."

"Why?"

"Because he slept with some unpopular girl or something and he's trying to cover his ass."

"And Lauren just believed him?" Bella asked incredulously.

"Probably because she knew he slept with someone and Jessica was easier to accept." Angela shrugged. She looked around. "Hey, that dress is cute."

Bella laughed, "Yeah, I guess."

"Let's go get you a haircut." Angela said excitedly, rushing out of the room. "What were you thinking of—"

Angela was cut off when she smacked into another person. Bella stiffened when she noticed who it was.

"M-Mike?" Angela asked, her voice steady even with the stuttering.

"Hey." Mike grinned. "With all the gossiping, I almost mistook you for Jessica."

Angela's mouth hung open, "Mike, please, don't tell her I told. It's really for the best anyway!"

"I don't know if she'll agree." Mike looked around, still smiling.

"Why are you here, anyway?" Bella asked, noticing that the store was mostly female-orientated.

"Eh. My mom's here and she told me if I came with her we'd stop by my favorite restaurant." Mike shrugged. "So...Bella...never took you for a gossiper."

"She's not," Angela cut in, "She's a listener."

"It's too bad what she was listening to wasn't any of her business, then, isn't it?" Mike eyed the credit card in Bella's hand.

"It's Jessica's." Bella sighed.

Mike nodded, accepting the explanation. "Give it."

"No." Angela and Bella said in unison. "It's not yours."

"So?" Mike asked. "I need to pay for some things."

"You have a job, use your own money." Angela spat.

"Well...I guess if those things don't get paid for...I might just mention a few things to Jessica." Mike said nonchalantly.

"Blackmail, seriously?" Bella scoffed. "Impressive and totally mature, Mike." Her tone was laced with sarcasm as she tightened her grip on the credit card.

"Not all of us can be as perfect as you, Bella." He said mockingly.

"I'm not." Bella bit back.

"Whatever. Why do you have the credit card, anyway?"

"None of your business." Angela said.

"Ha." Mike snorted. "I wonder what else is none of anyone's business."

Bella closed her eyes and attempted to calm herself with deep breaths. "Look. She loaned me the card to pay for a haircut she's making me get, okay?"

"Aw," Mike crooned, "How sweet."

"Stop being an asshole, Mike." Angela hissed.

Mike rolled his eyes. "Make me."

Bella's fist tingled as she clenched it into a ball. They were in public...but not in school. If she wanted to, she could hit him right now and say he'd been instigating it. But if he charged assault...she could kiss any scholarships and the progress she'd made socially at school goodbye.

"What do you want, besides the card?" She asked, willing to make a deal.

Mikes eyes lit up. "You."

"Ew." Bella's face puckered in her disgust. "This no time for you to get sentimental and corny."

"A date or the card." Mike smiled. "You pick."

Bella shared a look with Angela before handing him the card. She almost laughed at the shocked look at his face and resisted the urge to smile mockingly at him.

"Now leave." She almost pushed him away.

Mike turned and walked out of the boutique, grumbling the whole way.

Bella grabbed Angela's purse and dug through it for a cell phone before dialing a number she knew well by now.

"Hello? Forks Police Station? I'd like to report a missing credit card."

**--**

Bella followed Angela down the street, her feet aching. She had a few shopping bags in her hands and one contained Jessica's card. The police had traced it; Mike had bought a soda with it just ten minutes after the debacle in the store. He claimed he found it and wasn't charged due to Mr. Newton's part in the town, but at least Bella got the card back.

She knew that Mike could be even more mad now, but when she saw him he was shaking in fear. Maybe she'd scared into silence. She hoped so.

They were nearing some sort of bar. There were shouts and the clanking of glasses leaking through the walls and Bella spotted the group of men that had tried to attack her back when she had first come to Forks.

One of them turned and met her gaze with a malicious smile. He patted the arm of his buddy next to him and pointed in her direction, which was far left from where she was actually standing. He was clearly very much intoxicated by whatever had been in the huge pitcher sitting next to him on the bar's counter.

Slowly, each man in the group turned in what they saw in their inebriated states was her direction. She walked a bit closer.

_Bella. Stop._

The voice stopped her in her tracks as her eyes widened. She looked around her, only seeing the neon lights on signs and Angela just a few steps behind her. Edward wasn't here.

But she'd heard him. It had been clear in her mind, the words loud and firm in their admonishment. So close to her, as if whispered in her ear.

She took a few step closer to the bar and heard the voice again, louder this time. A cold, numb feeling gripped her as she considered that it was all in her head.

That she was losing her sanity.

"Bella!"

This time the voice was Angela's. Bella had long since stopped her movements and just stood there, staring at nothing.

"Bella, I was calling you! I told you to stop and you wouldn't. Hello?" Angela waved her hand in front of Bella's face impatiently.

So the voice _had_ been there. But it hadn't been Edward's, it had been _Angela's_. Bella had just...heard it as Edward's? That still made her feel crazy.

"Sorry." Bella coughed once. "I think I want to go home."

"That might be best," Angela sighed. She wrapped an arm around Bella's shoulder and the turned around, walking the way they came back to Angela's car.

The car ride was silent and slightly awkward, with Angela throwing concerned glances in Bella's way every five minutes. But she never spoke, and Bella appreciated this.

The house was dark except for the glimmer of light coming through the front windows. Probably the TV from the living room. Bella could just picture Charlie slumped on the couch, his jaw hanging loosely as he snored loudly.

Tripping on her way out of the car, Bella waved awkwardly with the bags in her hands and took careful steps toward her door. It was dark now, she hadn't noticed how late they'd stayed out.

The uneven steps of the pathway caused her to lose her footing more times than she could count. There were times when she'd trip, about to fall, and a cool breeze would sweep by, and she would catch herself, unharmed.

The keys slipped from her hands when she got to the door. She reached to grab them, brushing a soft surface as she felt around on the wooden floor of the porch.

It was fabric, she deduced. Silk, maybe. Pajamas. She had silk pajamas. She lifted the fabric from the floor and pooled it at her side. Her fingers hit metal and she grabbed her keys and quickly got inside.

It was as dark as it appeared from the outside, with the faint sounds of the TV filling the silence.

Bella left the bags and the silk pajamas at the bottom of the stairs and walked towards the ever-present new copy of the newspaper on the table. They were still reporting things about the murders. All she gathered in her tired mind were that the deaths had doubled in numbers and they still didn't have any leads. What were they doing, laying around? By this time, the number of murders was just ridiculous and the killer had to be getting sloppy.

She threw the newspaper in the recycle bin and trudged upstairs. Once there, she pulled the floorboard up without a thought, grabbed the CD, and placed it on top of her CD player.

After she took a quick shower, she stood in front of the CD player and the CD, staring at it. After an internal battle she knew she couldn't win, she picked up both items, assembled them accordingly, and plugged her earphones into her ears.

She fell asleep to the lullaby on the CD she'd promised herself she'd never touch again.

But as far as promises went, she supposed another broken one couldn't ruin her as much as the first had.


	12. Chapter Twelve

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.**

**A/N: Sorry for the whole discontinuation. I don't expect a lot of readers or reviews. For those of you who stuck through the wait, you guys are amazing.**

**I did lose my original outline for this, so, I pretty much reworked it from memory and then added what came to mind. It was easier to write it than I thought it would be. :]**

**Sorry for the bit of the wait too, since the A/N. **

**Massacre  
****Chapter Twelve**

The next day at school, Jessica met up with Bella and Angela in the parking lot. Bella's car was still broken down, so Angela gave her a ride. Jessica took her credit card back without a word. Bella wondered if Mike, Angela, or maybe even the credit card company had told her anything. After a moment, she decided that Jessica didn't know. The silence wasn't rude or malicious, just…silence. Not comfortable, but not awkward.

However, when Jessica got a good look at Bella, she realized Bella didn't have a new hair cut.

"Bellaaaa!" Jessica whined. "I told you to get a new haircut!"

"Shopping ran a little long and we decided it was time to head home, instead." Bella explained, hoping Jessica wouldn't push for details.

Jessica sighed, "Fine. At least you shopped. But you're coming with me tonight. I still want to buy you a dress, and I want to be with you when you get your hair cut." Jessica turned to Angela, "Can you make it?"

"Can't. Me and Ben are going to watch a couple movies tonight." Angela shrugged, blushing.

"Ben?" Jessica almost screeched. Angela slapped her shoulder, hissing at her to quiet down. "Aw! That's _so_ cute!"

"We're not dating," Angela said bashfully. "We're just friends."

Bella smirked, "Sure." She turned towards Jessica, changing the subject for Angela's benefit. "So…why do I need a dress?"

Angela nodded her thanks as Jessica started talking about the dance that she'd heard rumors of.

"Plus, it's always good to have a couple dresses. For last-minute events. I think, for you, we'll go with a little black dress." Jessica grinned, "It'll look good against your skin, as like a contrast or something. Plus, then you can use it again and again for different events."

"Okay." Bella consented, seeing the logic.

Jessica grinned at Bella's acceptance, "And please let me buy you shoes and accessories for it."

"Fine." Bella rolled her eyes, tiring of fighting with Jessica about spending money. If it's what made Jessica happy, then Bella would just have to deal with it.

The girls had long since stopped on their way to the school's front doors. Out of the corner of her eye, Bella spotted Mike across the parking lot. He almost looked like he wanted to come over here, but was restraining himself. Well, at least he had some common sense. She really wasn't in the mood for him to do something to get her in trouble.

"You guys," Bella started, "We should probably get to homeroom."

"Oh, yeah." Angela laughed. "I didn't even notice the time."

"Ugh," Jessica groaned. "Why do we have to go to school?"

Bella shook her head, smiling.

The school day passed without conflict, though Bella sensed some tension between Jessica and Lauren for some reason. Probably just more drama, going around.

At the end of school, Bella went with Jessica instead of Angela. The car ride was distinctly different. Angela usually let soft music fill the car, with some chatter here and there. Jessica didn't put any music on, and talked the entire car ride to the salon. Not to say that Bella minded, she didn't. She just wasn't used to such a lack of silence. Usually her life was always composed of just that: silence. Especially now. She'd always been used to and comfortable with silence. It was like a security blanket.

The salon was small and quaint, the opposite of what Bella had predicted. But then again, they hadn't left Forks, which also surprised Bella. It was next to a small coffee shop. Forks had a coffee shop?

"I know it's an in-town salon, but give it a chance. The women here have real talent with hair. I'd rather come here than waste gas to go to some over-priced, over-done salon. I'll ask the woman who does my hair to do yours, she's so sweet." Jessica explained.

"Alright." Bella said, accompanied with a nod. Just a nod wasn't really enough for Jessica.

"Heeey!" Jessica greeted as she walked in.

A chorus of greetings followed, all chipper and warm. Inside the salon, the walls were a lavender color, with pictures adorning walls. The pictures weren't just abstract portraits of "perfect" women, but family pictures, and some art. The chairs looked comfortable, and there were flowers everywhere. It was a relatively small space, but seemed very open.

"This is Bella." Jessica said, waving her hands to Bella.

"Hi." Bella greeted shyly.

"She wants a new look. Like, completely new. But, not like, drastic or anything." Jessica said vaguely. "I was hoping Veronique could do her hair?"

A woman reading a magazine in a chair across the room got up with a smile. Apparently this was Veronique. Complimenting her name, she looked very French. Her hair was braided on both sides of her delicate face. She was short, so Bella suspected she was closer to her age than to that of the other hairdressers.

Veronique led Jessica and Bella to the sinks, where she washed Bella's hair.

"You have really nice, soft, thick hair." Veronique complimented. "It's really pretty. You take good care of it, no?"

"Yes, I do. Um, thank you." Bella said, feeling a slight blush.

"So, what are you looking to do today?"

Bella let Jessica answer for her.

"Well I think she'd look nice with some wispy, side bangs. And maybe some layers? I _love_ the length, so don't cut the long layer, leave it as is. Cut the other layers to compliment it." Jessica dictated.

"Alright." Veronique nodded, "I'll do what I can. No color?"

Jessica looked at Bella, then answered, "Nah, her hairs a really pretty color already."

After the haircut was done, Bella was surprised at how much she liked it. She thanked Veronique profusely, and took the salon's card for future reference.

A 'little black dress', a pair of heels (that she would surely break her legs in), and a couple of accessories later, Bella and Jessica were back in the car, on the way home.

When Bella got home, she noticed two things: there were no cars in the driveway, and there was a small, square note on her front door. Careful of the bags in her hands, Bella walked forward as steadily as possible. When she reached the door, she placed all the bags on the small, baby-blue bench on their small porch, and took the note down.

_Bella,_

_Have to take an all-night shift tonight, as well as my shift tomorrow. I'll probably just end up staying at the station. There's food in the house and leftovers in the fridge. Don't waste time worrying about me._

_Maybe you should go spend the night at a friends. Y'know, be a teenager for once. _

_-Charlie._

Bella laughed quietly at how well Charlie knew her. She sat down next her bags on the bench, still holding the note. She read it over again. Crisp and to the point, as Charlie always was. She wasn't really surprised that he had to start taking up more work. Firstly, he was the Chief of the Police. Secondly, they probably had as many of the force there at the station as possible. Bella was sure Charlie wasn't the only one being pulled from his home on a last minute shift.

Bella slipped the note into one of her bags and sat back on the bench. It was getting dark outside, and the sky was a pretty light blue, melting into a darker one. She ran her hand over the rough, chipped paint on the bench. When she was 10, Charlie had built the bench one day while she was at Jacob's. Later that day, she'd come home, saw the brown bench, and claimed it clashed with the chairs Charlie had on the porch. She had him bring her to the nearest store that sold paint, at nearly 9:30 P.M., and picked out a blue she was sure would match. The next day, they painted the bench, and ending up getting more paint on them than anything else. The memory was full of laughter and childhood smiles, and when Bella came back to the present, she found herself smiling as well.

It was so much simpler when Charlie was around more, except only in the summer. Bella knew he picked up as much work possible during the year, since he had no one to come home to. She couldn't imagine how lonely he was. She felt bad about only seeing him during the summers, for short times. She felt even worse at the memory of her throwing a fit when she was 12 because she didn't want to go back to Forks.

Letting out a large sigh, Bella pushed her newly-cut side bangs out of her face and got up. It was getting darker and darker, and knew Charlie wouldn't be happy if he knew she was still inside. She turned slowly, cracking her sore back-muscles with a twist of her body, and reached for her backs. Behind her, she heard rustling. She turned back and faced the nearest forest to her house, exactly to her right. The rustling kept going, not seeming to care that she was now looking and paying more attention. A black form stood up from behind the bush. Overall, it could have been mistaken for a large bear. It was huge, with defined fur that she could even see in the lack of light. Bright, brown eyes stared at her, as if she was familiar.

Bella suddenly realized she was gasping for air in fright, and quickly turned and grabbed her bags. She unlocked the door with her key hastily and ran inside. Once inside, she locked the doors, then turned on the lights in the hallway, kitchen and living room. All of a sudden, she felt undeniably alone, and in danger. She put the bags down and ran up to her room, quickly throwing a bag together. Next she went in the bathroom grabbing all her necessities. After the bag was put together, she grabbed the phone and dialed Angela's number.

"Hey, Bella, how was the haircut?" Angela greeted.

"Um, fine. Hey, is Ben still there?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Oh. Well Charlie's gone for the night and I just feel very…unsafe…in my house right now. I was wondering if I could sleep over, but it's okay if I can't." Bella rushed out, embarrassed.

"Oh, no! Come over! Ben doesn't mind, and my mom said it's fine, too." Angela said after a few minutes.

Bella let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding, "Thanks, Ang. Um, no car?"

Angela laughed, "Oh, right. I'll come get you."

"No, don't, not now. I'll feel bad. Finish up with Ben and come get me when you drop him off or something." Bella said.

"You sure? I don't want you to stay there if…"

"I'll be fine." Bella said quickly. Probably too quickly.

"Alright…" Angela said, unconvinced. "Call if you change your mind. I'll probably be there in about an hour…yeah, an hour. See you."

"Bye." Bella said, hanging up the house phone. She wondered if maybe she should talk to Charlie about getting a cell phone. Shrugging, she picked up the bags she'd left and went upstairs. She put away the dress and other things, before grabbing a book to read downstairs until Angela got there.

On her way away from her bookshelf, Bella caught a glance in her window. From this angle, she could see more of the forest. She hesitantly moved forward and looked out, the moon lighting the outside.

Below, in the same place, was that same mass of fur and flesh. Watching. Waiting. Why was it there? What _was _it, anyway? More rustling happened in the bush it stood behind, as if it wanted her to know it was there. Slowly, it turned it's now clearly wolfish head upward, and howled. It was like a sad shriek. It turned just a bit more, and one, clear, brown eye met hers through her window. It turned toward her completely and watched her for what felt like an eternity. Then, suddenly, it dropped its head…almost sadly? Bella didn't know how to judge that…_thing…_or its emotions. After a couple of moments, it slowly started walking away, further into the dark forest, further away from where she was still standing, watching it leave.


	13. Chapter Thirteen

**Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight.**

**A/N: Bear with this chapter. I realize it's mostly filler, but there are some very important details here. Besides, I was nice and didn't end it in a horrible cliffhanger. I'm out of practice with writing this, so forgive me. Fast update, though! **

**Massacre  
****Chapter 13**

Stepping into Angela's house, Bella felt so much safer. There were cans of soda and paper plates littering the table in the living room. Next to those, an empty, halfway open pizza box was on the counter. Bella came to the conclusion that Ben and Angela had simply eaten in front of the TV, neither wanting to move away to properly dispose of the remnants of their meal. It was sweet in a way. A pang of jealousy hit Bella, and she shoved it back to the depths of her mind as best she could. It wasn't fair to let jealousy plague her. Angela deserved happiness and love, and if that's what Ben gave her, Bella would be happy for them both.

Angela blushed as she looked over at the living room. "I'll just clean all this up. Sorry."

"Don't be. I take it things went well with Ben?" Bella asked, even though the answer was obvious.

Angela's soft blush darkened, "It was fine, yup." She cleared her throat and started picking up the trash, hurrying into the kitchen. When she passed Bella on her second trip to the kitchen, Bella smirked.

"Just fine?" Bella teased. Angela blushed again. It was so amusing to see her usually calm friend so worked up.

"Well…" Angela drifted off, sitting down on the couch when the mess was cleared. "I like him. A lot. But…"

"But…?" Bella prompted.

"I'm just not sure if he feels the same." Angela admitted.

Bella rolled her eyes, "He does. Anyone can tell. You should invite him to that dance coming up."

Angela shrugged, but appeared to be thinking hard. "Maybe…"

Bella smiled, satisfied with her matchmaking efforts. "Thanks for letting me come here." She said again.

"Stop thanking me," Angela admonished, "It's no trouble at all. I'm always here for you."

Bella nodded to herself, and settled down to watch some mind-numbing movie on the television.

Eventually, the girls realized they should probably sleep. Angela agreed to give Bella a ride to school in the morning. Bella didn't bother fighting about it, she really had no other means of transportation, even if she felt guilty about how much Angela had been driving her around lately.

Bella wasn't surprised when she had trouble sleeping. That had been the case lately,. Besides, even as a child she had always had problems sleeping in a new place. It was like her mind didn't trust her surroundings. During sleepovers, the sleeping trouble worked in her favor; she never had to suffer the "first one to sleep" pranks.

Sighing, Bella rolled over in the bed in the guestroom. It was a decently comfortable bed, even if the pillows were slightly hard. She sat up, but didn't turn on a light. She groped unseeingly around the side of the bed, and found the zipper of her overnight bag. Slowly, she unzipped it. She felt around in it for a moment, but stopped when she felt something sharp. She quickly got up and turned on the bedside lamp. She pulled the object out. It was a pocket knife. She didn't own a pocket knife. Why was there a pocket knife in her bag…?

Shaking her head, Bella put the pocket knife in the drawer of the bedside table. She reached back into the bag and retrieved her CD player, pressing "play" even before she put her headphones on. The calming melody filled her ears, wiping her brain of basically any thought. She shut off the light and fell into a deep sleep.

_She was running. She wasn't sure why, but she felt like she was running from something. She didn't know what it was she was running from, but she had an overwhelming urge to get as far away from it as possible. _

_Sticks and leaves crunched under her bare feet, several rocks digging into her skin. She felt and smelled the blood running from the scratches, more than what should have come from such shallow cuts. _

_She realized she was in the woods. She wondered if she was reliving the time when she'd run after Edward. In a moment, she knew she wasn't. These woods were different. Recognizable in the depths of her mind, but different from the more familiar woods near her house. _

_She kept running, even though her breathing was shallow and her lungs burned. She felt a painful cramp on the side of her stomach, and gasped at every step. Her hair whipped wildly behind her, she could hear the sound in the wind as she picked up speed._

_Finally, she began slowing down, but only a little bit. She slowed down more and more as she got closer to what she supposed was her destination. The trees cleared little by little, until finally they opened completely. Bella stopped dead in her tracks and breathed heavily. The pain in her feet had long since numbed, but now her heart felt like it was being squeezed so tightly it was bound to explode right in her body and kill her._

_In front of her was a meadow. Not just any meadow, but _their _meadow. _His _meadow. The one he'd taken her to during the happier, but still scary, times. _

_Bella's feet left bloody footprints in the dying flowers. Everything was worse now. Everything seemed sinister and unhappy._

_Suddenly, the meadow brightened up, and the sun came out. It was just like that day. The pain in Bella's heart doubled, no, tripled. She couldn't even put a number on how much it hurt. She could almost picture the two of them, leaning near a tree, testing the boundaries of their new relationship. _

_A figure appeared in the middle of the meadow. Broad shoulders, a denim jacket, tall, overall lanky body…_

Edward.

_Bella didn't think twice as she started running again, toward him. She didn't care if he didn't want her. She didn't care if she was just hurting herself more. He was _here. _He was near her, getting nearer by the second. She almost hurtled into him, before he turned around._

_The figure turned into Laurent. He smiled a devilish smile, bearing his sharp teeth at her. Bella stopped dead in her tracks._

"_Why are you here?" Her voice was small, scared and vulnerable._

"_But I'm not, not really." His voice was melodic, beautifully intimidating. _

"_But…" Bella didn't have anymore to say._

"_Oh, Bella…all alone…They left you here, perfectly unarmed and open for harm." Laurent made a sound of displeasure. "Well, I suppose it doesn't matter. You won't really get the bulk of the pain. Oh…well…I suppose you will."_

"_What do you mean?" Bella said, her voice rising. _

"_You will find out in time. She has big plans for you…" His voice faded away._

Bella awoke, disoriented. She didn't understand her dream at all. She decided to push it away for now, refusing to think about it. She looked at the clock on the side of the wall. It was five in the morning. She'd be getting up soon anyway, there was really no point in going back to sleep. Instead, she got up off of the bed, grabbed her overnight bag, and crept towards the bathroom. A quick surveillance of the house revealed that Angela was in a deep sleep, and Angela's parents were gone. Bella stepped into the white bathroom and quickly closed the door. She set the shower on a lower setting, hoping not to wake Angela. Bella quickly stuffed her new hair into a plastic shower cap she'd brought and stepped into the small shower.

After her shower, Bella got dressed in her new 'skinny' jeans. (Jessica had plainly stated that skinny jeans were "in" and that Bella should at least give them a try.) The jeans were uncomfortable tight, but Bella liked the way they made her look taller. She chose a random flowy shirt last night and put that on. She let her hair down from the shower cap, careful not to wet it. She fiddled with it until she was pleased with it.

Bella sighed when no more could be done with her appearance. It was a good distraction and wasted some time. Bella hated how she was even forcing herself to care about her appearance just to keep her mind from drifting to her dream.

Angela got up at around six thirty. Bella was already pretty much ready to go. They just needed to make a run to her house to grab her backpack, which she'd forgotten to bring.

After Angela was ready, and Bella's backpack retrieved, they made their way to school. Bella wasn't excited to go to school, it was a boring and mundane experience lately, but it took up time.

Not surprisingly, they got to school quite early. Jessica was already there, along with Mike and Lauren. Bella grimaced. It was way to early to deal with Lauren. Sighing, she got out of the car, her backpack slung over her shoulder. She walked in step with Angela over to Jess and Mike, only half ignoring Lauren's presence.

"Hey," Bella greeted, prompting conversation.

"You look amazing!" Jessica squealed. "I take full credit for your transformation!"

Bella smirked, "I do like the hair and the jeans."

Jessica beamed at her, almost bouncing in excitement, "I knew you would!"

School passed in a blur, for once. Through the day, Bella kept a frequent blush on her cheeks due to all the compliments she was getting. People seemed to be ready to crowd around her and be friends, a drastic change from the harsh words and whispers. Bella didn't really pay attention to it, she didn't mind the change but didn't exactly like it either. It's like all they cared about was appearance and social stature, which was probably the case.

Angela dropped Bella off right after school, having a dentist appointment directly afterwards. Bella's house was empty and quiet, unsettlingly so. Bella plopped her backpack and overnight bag on the living room couch and turned the TV on just for some background noise.

Bella picked up the phone and quickly dialed Jacob's number.

"Hello," Billy's gruff voice answered. He sounded stressed.

"Hey," Bella greeted pleasantly. "I was wondering if I could talk to—"

"No." Billy said firmly. "Just tell me."

"Um, okay. I was wondering if Jake had taken my truck to work on it?"

"No. It's not here. Sorry. Try asking Charlie."

"Oh. Okay. Um…Tell Jake I said hi, and that I miss him." Bella paused. "Is he sick or something?"

"Yes. Very sick." Billy answered shortly. "Bye, Bella."

The dial tone met Bella's ears and she lifted the phone away, staring at it in shock. She blinked a few times, before dialing Charlie's number at the police station.

"Forks Police Station, please hold." An almost automated voice said. If it wasn't for the slight tired tone, Bella would have thought it was a machine.

"Hello?" Charlie answered, all business. This was the side of him Bella never saw.

"Hey, Dad. I was just wondering if you know where my truck is?"

"Oh, yeah. I noticed it wouldn't start and brought it to a mechanic downtown. The address is 56 Noway Avenue, it's a couple streets away from the Forks Bank." Charlie said. "I've got to go, Bells, I'll talk to you later."

"Alright. Bye." Bella said. She contemplated asking Angela for a ride, but decided against it. She really didn't want to bother Angela again. The bank wasn't far from her house, so by default, neither was the mechanic. She would just walk.

With her decision made, Bella grabbed her keys and left the lights and TV on as she left.

As Bella walked, she couldn't help but notice how empty the town was. There wasn't anyone outside, no kids playing, no one talking amongst themselves on front yards. It looked like a ghost town. It was unnerving and way too quiet. Usually, despite its size, Forks was bustling. People here were loud and friendly or loud and unfriendly. Sound was a constant here. Having it be so still and silent was almost scary.

The Forks Bank was closed and empty when Bella walked by. It was only four, they closed that early? Bella always thought the bank closed around five.

Finally, the car shop came into Bella's view. The mechanic's shop was big, and a light blue paint chipped on its walls. Bella made her way up to the door. It was already slightly open, she pushed it to open it fully. A bell dinged lightly with her entrance.

"Hello?" She said into the silence. No answer. She made her way to the garage, seeing her truck. It seemed to be all fixed, ready to be taken back. Either that or the mechanic hadn't started it yet. Turning around, Bella went to the office in the building.

She stopped, facing the clear glass door, and gasped.

Inside, a man was laying on his desk, arms sprawled out unnaturally. He was pale with death, and his head was turned toward her. His eyes were open, lifelessly staring at her. A pool of blood surrounding him on his desk.

Bella felt the hot tears flowing down her cheeks. It was such a shock.

Bella backed away from the door, hitting the wall and turning back into the garage. She moved to the other side of her car and opened her door slowly. She had no idea what to do. Surely she should call the police?

She got in her truck, shaking. She placed the key in the ignition and twisted it, and her truck groaned to life.

She pressed on the gas and started to leave the garage, but lifted as her truck went over a large bump. Since when did they build speed bumps into garages?

Bella moved over the bump completely and kept driving. When she was out of the garage, she looked at her rear view mirror and screamed.

On the ground, there wasn't a speed bump. The bump had been a body; a man was lying on his back, his limbs twisted in a painful way.

Bella gulped, more tears running down her face. For once in her life, she slammed down on the gas pedal and went over the speed limit.

A couple streets from her house, a police officer stopped her.

"Miss?" The officer greeted, looking down at his pad of paper. "Bella?" He took in her sobbing form.

Bella sobbed, "In the mechanic shop down the road, there's… there's…"

"What?"

"There's two dead men. Maybe more. I only saw two."

The officer didn't speak for a while, his jaw clenched. Finally, he told her to go home. He watched her drive away until she couldn't see him anymore.

Once Bella got home, she collapsed on her bed into a frail, sobbing ball. Why were so many people dying in Forks? They were obviously murders. Who was doing this? Bella's mind drifted to the cold, dead eyes that seemed like they had been staring directly at her. Did someone know she'd be going there? Did they plan for the man to be laid like that? Did they just want to freak out whoever saw them? Bella couldn't shake the feeling that it specifically had to do with her, though.

Closing her eyes, Bella let herself fall into a fitful sleep. She'd deal with everything when she woke up.


End file.
